Auto Action #1825

BATHURST 1000 GUIDE – WHO WILL WIN AND LOSE

CHAMPION!

Van GISBERGEN ALL-IN FOR BATHURST

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SVG: LATEST TITLE IS JUST THE START Shane van Gisbergen could be starting a decade of domination after claiming his second Supercars championship at Sydney Motorsport Park

By Paul Gover, News Editor A DOMINANT romp through the 2021 Repco Supercars Championship could be just the start for Shane van Gisbergen.

As he heads to the grand final at the Bathurst 1000 with an unbeatable 349-point lead over his team mate and future boss Jamie Whincup at the Red Bull Ampol Racing Team, the GOAT warns he could be at the top for five to 10 years.

Fresh from the rain-out on Sunday at Sydney Motorsport Park, Whincup predicts a tough time for anyone who tries to end van Gisbergen’s reign at the top of Supercars.

“He is only a young fella. He’s got plenty of years,” says Whincup.

“He’s certainly at his peak, but you can hang onto your peak for five or 10 years. It’s definitely his era at the moment.”

The Whincup era will end at Mount Panorama on December 5 when he races for the final time as a primary driver but he is not getting sentimental, choosing instead to celebrate van Gisbergen’s follow-up to his first title in 2016.

“Obviously massive congratulations.

I like to think I went pretty hard, and

threw everything at it. Purely didn’t have enough race pace from my side of the garage.

“Massively deserving to win it. It was SvG’s championship from a while ago and it was only a question of time.”

After creating his own history in Supercars, Whincup also says that van Gisbergen has changed the game.

“There have been guys in the sport that have tried to raise the level. SvG is raising the level for everyone else in the sport.

“You need competition. As I’ve always said, (swim champion) Grant Hackett would not have been as good without Kieren Perkins.”

After celebrating his championship with a drift lap at SMP, van Gisbergen was humble about his achievement.

“It’s been an awesome year. Obviously some challenges, ups and downs. Came here with a plan and pretty much executed every race,” he says.

“The car has been fantastic, the team has always been fantastic. Super stoked.”

The Sydney weekend, the fourth in a row in a torrid and testing end to the sprint championship, also delivered the Teams’ title to The Bulls.

“That’s awesome. The cars have been awesome all year. We’ve been able to contend for wins everywhere,” says van Gisbergen.

“We feel like we’ve earned it. The view is better from the first garage,” says Whincup.

But the focus has already shifted to Bathurst.

“We’re just going there purely for the race win with both cars. It will probably be more intense.

But more enjoyable, I think,” says van Gisbergen.

“I’m not counting down. I’ll go and enjoy Bathurst. We don’t have to worry about the championship or anything,” says Whincup.

Then it’s the 2022 season, and beyond, for the driver who is now chasing Whincup’s records in the #97.

“It’s my life dream, my life goal. To win the first one and then to win it again. All I want is to win it again,” says van Gisbergen.

“Change is always good and it keeps it fresh.

New team mate next year and then a new car the year after. I’ve just got to keep focus and stay at that level.”

But one of his likely challengers in coming years, Anton De Pasquale, sounds a warning as he develops into a series championship threat with the Shell V-Power team.

“Of course we’re trying to chase him and he will be the favourite again next year. We were never going to beat him this year, but next year I think we have a fair chance,” says De Pasquale.

UP COMING RACE EVENT CALENDAR Brought to you by www.speedflow.com.au INTERCONTINENTAL GT CHALLENGE RD 3 KYALAMI 9 HOUR DECEMBER 4 SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP BATHURST 1000 DECEMBER 5 FORMULA 1 RD 21 SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX - FIA FORMULA 2 CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 7 DECEMBER 6 FORMULA 1 RD 22 ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX - FIA FORMULA 2 CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 8 DECEMBER 13

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A NEW RACE START AT BATHURST

The beginning of the biggest changes in recent Supercars history is happening at Mount Panorama this weekend

By Paul Gover, News Editor THE TWO biggest changes in a generation of Supercars racing are happing at the Repco Bathurst 1000 this weekend.

The first and most obvious is the initial public appearance of the Gen3 racers from Ford and Chevy Racing.

The all-new Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang are being unveiled on Friday morning ahead of track laps, most likely with newlycrowned Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen and his 2022 challenger Anton De Pasquale handling the driving as the blue and red spearheads through the weekend.

But that’s not all.

The new top gun in Supercars, Barclay Nettlefold, is making his first official visit to the Supercars paddock after a very low-key

WARM WELCOME FOR WHINCUP JAMIE WHINCUP was given a hero’s welcome at Mount Panorama as he prepares for his final race as a full-time Supercar driver.

The seven-time Supercars Champion arrived to a special air display from Red Bull Air Race World Champion Matt Hall, who dramatically landed

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walk-through on the Saturday of the final weekend of racing at Sydney Motorsport Park.

His visit comes as the sale of Supercars from Archer Capital and the Supercars teams to Racing Australia Consolidated Enterprises is finalised.

Nettlefold is the chairman of the new RACE consortium and comes with the promise, like Liberty Media in Formula One, of much more action and promotion to drive Supercars into the top group of sports in Australia.

“I have a strong passion for sport business acceleration, leading the vision and team for success. RACE is committed to the growth of the sport and providing a platform for the teams to concentrate on racing and what they love,” says Nettlefold.

No-one knows yet who will join Nettlefold on the new Supercars board, but Mark Skaife and Australian Racing Group powerhouse John

on Mountain Straight in his aircraft featuring a #CheersJDub livery after giving Whincup a birds-eye-view of the famous circuit.

Whincup and Hall gathered with the entire Triple Eight team underneath a #CheersJDub overpass banner at an event-opening media call, the Kiwi’s final full-time event beginning with a celebration of his career.

Speaking at the start of the week, the 38-year-old was brimming with

McMellan are considered certainties.

What is also certain is that Supercars teams will have two observers, but no voting powers.

The Supercars Commission, which is dominated by the teams and is responsible for sporting decisions, will continue with a new membership to be announced in January.

As Nettlefold moves into the driving seat with RACE there are a number of things which have already been decided.

“The current Supercars management team, led by CEO Sean Seamer will remain in place, moving forward in 2022,” RACE says in an official statement.

“The Commission will continue to be an advisory body with a particular focus on racing rules, regulations and formats, and will be an additional resource to the board and management team.”

gratitude.

“I’m blown away how much effort they have put into my last event,” Whincup said.

“They’re making it very special for me.

“Win, lose or draw I’m going to try to enjoy it as much as I possibly can.

“I feel very privileged.”

The #CheersJDub hashtag will feature on the #88 Holden Commodore for the Bathurst 1000,

inviting fans to post their own tributes online.

Whincup will sign off from full-time duties after this weekend’s Bathurst 1000, the Triple Eight Race Engineering driver aiming for his fifth win in the ‘Great Race’ alongside fellow Australian motorsport figure Craig Lowndes.

Broc Feeney will replace Whincup in 2022, with the latter moving into a team ownership role. Josh Nevett

COVID BEHIND, BATHURST AHEAD FOR REYNOLDS

A double-jabbed David Reynolds only wants to talk about The Big One at Mount Panorama.

By Paul Gover, News Editor DAVID REYNOLDS wants to put the Covid-19 controversy in the past as he looks to be a contender with Luke Youlden in this year’s Repco Bathurst 1000.

After missing two of the four sprint rounds at Sydney Motorsport Park, where super-sub Youlden scored some promising results in the Penrite Mustang, the former Bathurst winner says his sole focus is on Mount Panorama.

Official investigations into Reynolds’ Covid situation have cleared him of any wrong-doing, and he has was double vaccinated in time to race in the final sprint weekend at SMP, so he only wants to look into the future and not dwell on the past.

“Any time you’re racing at Bathurst, even if it’s in Santa’s sled, you feel good about life,” Reynolds tells Auto Action.

“I feel really good. It’s a good place, I have good vibes and good memories.”

Reynolds has nothing substantial to say about his vaccination situation on the first weekend at SMP, which saw him barred from returning to Supercars racing until he proved he was double-jabbed.

There was also a second scare on the final SMP weekend when one of the Kelly Grove Racing crew

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was identified as a close contact to someone with Covid and the whole team wore masks until being cleared by testing at the track.

“It’s all done now, so let’s move on.

It’s all done and dusted, it’s all in the past,” Reynolds says.

Instead, he is hopeful that the poor form for the two Ford Mustangs from Kelly Grove through the SMP swing - like the troubles at Tickford Racing and Walkinshaw Andretti United were specific to the Sydney track.

“Whatever happened at SMP, our performance wasn’t the best in the dry. But it’s probably just isolated to that style of track,” he says.

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“For the people who didn’t perform well on the first Friday at SMP #1, they were going to struggle the whole time over the four weeks.

“But in a normal year you go there once, move on to the next one, and feel a lot better about life. We’ve never done that sort of program before and hopefully we never have to do it again.”

Reynolds is making no predictions, but says the trip to Bathurst looks more positive for the team.

“At the start of the year, when we drove the cars at Bathurst, we were around the eighth to 12th mark. And we’ve improved and put a lot more

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parts in the car.”

He also believes the wet-weather speed at SMP could be an advantage at Mount Panorama.

“Looking at the forecast it’s going to rain, and our cars are quite good in the rain. Our relative pace in the wet is better against the rest of the field is better.

“But you go to different tracks and it might be one of those things. At Bathurst it might have the opposite effect and be really good in the dry and not as good in the wet.”

Reynolds says he feels strong for Bathurst, where he has won in the past, and is also confident that the extra track time for Youlden at SMP has also helped him.

“Luke is probably in the best mindset I’ve ever seen him in after doing those two whole rounds. To actually race and compete against the main guys has really helped.

“I’ve never seen him so positive and confident in himself.”

Beyond Bathurst, Reynolds is also looking ahead to the 2022 season and the arrival of ace engineer David Cauchi from Triple Eight to lead the technical team at what will become Grove Racing.

“Cauchi is coming on at the end of the year and hopefully he will bring some great ideas and give us things to think about. That should make everything gel. Whether that’s the engineering or driving the cars.”

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FOR THE FULL GEN3 REVEAL AND ALL THE DETAILS THIS LINK WILL GO LIVE AT 8.00 AM FRIDAY 3RD DECEMBER REVEAL HERE

GEN3 CAMARO AND MUSTANG ALL SET FOR REVEAL

Image: Hughes Motorsport Art Design

By Dan McCarthy THE GEN3 Chevrolet Camaro may be making its highly anticipated maiden public appearance this weekend at Bathurst, however Camaro has competed in the Australian Touring Car Championship on many occasions, taking two ATCC titles in the past.

The Gen3 regulations have been under development for several years, and although recently postponed to enter competition in 2023, both the Gen3 Ford Mustang and the Chevrolet Camaro have been testing and will be officially unveiled at ‘The Mountain,’ on this Friday morning.

The new Gen3 Mustang made its testing debut at Queensland Raceway several weeks ago in the hands of Alex Davison and has since

been driven again alongside the Camaro Gen3.

This second test occurred since Auto Action last went to print and saw the Mustang with former full-time driver Ash Walsh share the track with the Camaro driven by Triple Eight protégé Broc Feeney.

Supercars Head of Motorsport Adrian Burgess explained the significance of the recent test.

“It’s another significant day in Supercars history with the Camaro taking its first run at QR,” Burgess told Supercars.com.

“Everything went as planned, it was a successful day.

“We rolled out nearly 200 kilometres relatively trouble-free, marking a successful shakedown.”

Although originally planned for

Tuesday the test occurred the following day at Queensland Raceway and once again took place behind closed doors.

Supercars wanting to keep the Gen3 machines a secret until they are unveiled at Bathurst on Friday December 3.

While Supercar fans have become familiar with the Mustang racing and winning in the Supercars series over recent years, it has been many years since a Camaro has been raced in an Australian touring car series.

However, the Camaro has a rich history in the Australian Touring Car Championship.

The Camaro has had success, with Bob Jane, winning two Australian Touring car titles in 1971 and 1972.

Camaro in the hands of Kevin Bartlett

recorded three wins across three seasons and finished runner-up in the 1982 ATCC season.

Kevin Bartlett in the iconic Channel 9 Chevrolet Camaro took pole position for the ‘Great Race’ on two occasions, in 1980 and ’81. However, he was unable to convert either to victory. The Camaro was competitive; however, Bartlett’s Camaro is most famous for ending his 1982 Bathurst 1000 race upside down after the left rear tyre punctured.

It’s fitting that on the 40th anniversary of the last Camaro pole position at ‘The Mountain’ that the new Gen3 Camaro will be revealed.

Auto Action will have all the deatils and a full breakdown of just what the Gen3 cars will be, and the reaction to the unveiling in our next issue.

SECOND TITLE JUST AS SATISFYING FOR VAN GISBERGEN

BY Josh Nevett THE FEELING of winning a Supercars Championship has not gotten old for Shane van Gisbergen just yet, the two-time champion declaring 2021 feels ‘just like the first one’.

The Triple Eight Race Engineering driver wrapped up the drivers’ title for a second time after rain forced the final race at Sydney Motorsport Park to be abandoned.

Van Gisbergen adds the 2021 triumph to his title in 2016, and also took home $25,000 for winning the Sydney Cup this afternoon.

Reflecting on his achievements and the year that has been, the newly crowned champion said he could not get enough of the winning feeling.

“It’s been a goal,” van Gisbergen said.

“I won the first one and just wanted to do it again.

“It seems a while ago now, it was only 2016 but it feels just like the first one. It’s pretty cool.

“Now all we want to do is win it again.

“It’s an awesome feeling and knowing not just the guys on my car but the whole team how we’ve been all year, so many changes within the team, to still come out and perform like we did is really cool.”

The closest challenger to van Gisbergen was teammate Jamie Whincup, who sits 349 points in arrears with just one round to be run at Mount Panorama.

The new champion paid tribute to everyone at

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Triple Eight who has played a part in assisting both drivers to fight at the front.

“It’s still pretty fresh but it’s been awesome year with some challenges, ups and downs,” van Gisbergen said.

“We’ve just come here and had a plan with (David) Cauchi and the #97 guys and pretty much executed every race.

“We were super consistent and did what we needed to do.

“There were obviously some challenges early in the year with breaking myself but my car has been fantastic, team has always been fantastic.”

Securing the second title places van Gisbergen among elite company, joining just a handful of drivers from New Zealand to win multiple championships.

Jim Richards won four Australian Touring Car Championship titles between 1985-1991, while Scott McLaughlin more recently won three Supercars Championship titles on the trot between 2018-2020.

Recognising his esteemed company, van Gisbergen paid tribute to countrymen who have achieved the feat before him.

“Jimmy (Richards) is obviously a hero to most Kiwi drivers,” van Gisbergen began.

“Scotty (McLaughlin) being a mate winning the last few, it’s cool to add my name to that list, but just winning it again is a cool thing.”

DE PASQUALE LOOKING TO 2022

By Dan McCarthy ANTON DE Pasquale has stated that he is looking forward to a clean slate and taking the fight to Shane van Gisbergen in 2022, after the New Zealander won this year’s Supercars Championship at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Throughout his first season with front-running squad Dick Johnson Racing, De Pasquale has been fast, winning six races, including five at Sydney Motorsport Park, however four DNFs scuppered any chances of taking the title.

With one race to go, the big one, the Bathurst 1000, De Pasquale sits sixth in the standings and believes next year is a real opportunity.

“We’re always trying to lift that level, which I think as the years gone on, we have done that,” De Pasquale said in a press conference attended

by Auto Action.

“We’ve obviously had a lot of DNF’s and a lot of other things which have put us down the order, but we were never going to beat him (van Gisbergen) this year.

“I think next we have a fair chance, start on zero points and have another go.

“I always start a new year fresh.

Obviously, we have another race to go before we worry about next year, but we’re getting better and better.”

The 2021 Supercars Championship season marked a new era for DJR as team co-owner, the legendary Roger

Penske departed the outfit along with star driver Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard.

De Pasquale and two-time Bathurst 1000 winner Will Davison joined the team in 2021 and have been taking the fight more regularly to the Triple Eight Race Engineering Commodores as the season has progressed.

“Obviously working with a new team is always a learning process, we can’t just walk in and do that (win the title), and I haven’t been here (Supercars) long enough to just jump in and win a championship with a team,” he said.

“It’s all building process, it’s good to have guys like Jamie and Shane, obviously winning races, and you’re

trying to chase them at all times.

That’s what we want and that’s what we’ve been doing.

“I think we’ve been getting better and better, and we have a bit of an idea of what we need to do to be competitive throughout the year.”

De Pasquale hopes that the speed unlocked at the four back-to-back Sydney Motorsport Park rounds will be present at other circuits around the nation.

“We’ll see how it transfers, obviously, it’s worked here, but the car has been previously good here in the past too, so we’ll see how that transfers into other circuits,” he explained.

“Our car has been good, obviously we’ve been really fast, had some really good races, had a couple average ones, but overall, it’s been a good four weeks.”

The #11 driver is certain that van Gisbergen will start 2022 as the title favourite, the man they need to take the fight to.

“This has been the first year I’ve been in a car that can compete for race wins on multiple weekends,” he said.

“So you know how good these guys are and what they are able to do.

“Of course we’re trying to chase him (van Gisbergen), he’ll be the favourite next year again.”

TANDER’S DIFFERENT MINDSET REIGNING BATHURST 1000 winning co-driver Garth Tander explained that he will have a different mindset going into the Great Race, now that Shane van Gisbergen has wrapped up the 2021 Supercars Championship.

The New Zealander managed to secure the title at Sydney Motorsport Park when the final race of the quadruple header was abandoned due to weather.

Heading into the year Tander was aware that he would likely have to think about van Gisbergen’s title challenge, however as the ‘Great Race’ was postponed from October until December due to the COVID-19 pandemic the championship has already been wrapped up.

Tander believes that with the championship wrapped up, it will enable him to race more aggressively in the 1000.

“Now the championship is locked away I’m just focusing on this race, but in saying that, I don’t want to go out there, make a mistake and throw the race away,” Tander said to Auto Action.

“It’s just more about your mindset and how you execute the race weekend.

“I probably would have been slightly

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more conservative if the championship was still on the line, I didn’t want to jeopardise Shane’s championship, but now it’s just a straight up race, it’s the biggest race of the year, you go there and do your job.”

The four-time Bathurst 1000 winner believes it will be a benefit to not think about the championship throughout the race, enabling him to go in with an altered mindset.

“It’s probably more a mindset thing than pressure because, fortunately for me Triple Eight have hired me to do a job, and that job may have included considering Shane’s championship wherever the race may have fallen in the calendar year,” he said.

“I was fully prepared that if we were going to Bathurst and the championship was still in play then I would have a particular mindset in place.

“I wasn’t feeling any pressure at all about the championship stuff, because that’s something that we’d discussed months and months and months ago.”

Since the latest COVID-19 breakout, Tander has only driven a Supercar in the 40-minute co-driver session, however does not feel unprepared.

“Supercar laps are the critical thing,

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40 minutes at SMP and that is the only driving I’ve done since May, so potentially a little bit underdone going in, but I’ve done over 20 Bathursts now so I sort of know my way around the joint,” Tander chuckled.

“They don’t give the trophy out on Thursday afternoon, they don’t give the trophy out on Friday morning in any of the co-driver sessions.

“I’ve got so much time to get comfortable prior to the race that’s not really too much of a concern for me.”

At the time AA went to print rain was expected not only for Sunday’s Bathurst 1000, but also much of the week.

Tander was non-committal when asked who he feels the biggest challenger will be, but expressed that the retiring seven-time champion in the sister Triple Eight Race Engineering car

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will have nothing to lose.

“I don’t feel like you can single any one car out because that would be doing any other car an injustice,” he said. “If we execute our plan and the race as we should then we’ll be amongst it.

I don’t know what Jamie’s mindset will be, but given it’s his last race as a full-time competitor in the championship, it’s not hard to work out that his motivation is going to be pretty high.

“Obviously Shane and I are very keen to defend what we achieved last year, so bring it on.” Dan McCarthy

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SUPERCARS WILL provide a full refund to fans who braved heavy rain and left Sydney Motorsport Park without seeing the final race of the Sydney Cup, which was called off due to the conditions.

All single-day trackside and grandstand ticket holders for the Sunday will receive a refund through Ticketek. The abandoned race was an anticlimactic way to end the round which saw Shane van Gisbergen claim his second Supercars Championship title as well as the Sydney Cup. JN

S5000 WILL join Supercars in Darwin following the confirmation of the date and the support card for the annual round in the Northern Territory. The V8-powered open-wheel series joins the Australian Superbike Championship and Combined Sedans on the program, scheduled for June 17-19. In addition to the circuit racing action, finals of the Australian Top Fuel Championship will take place on the Friday and Saturday night of the three-day program. RV

BRAD JONES Racing has officially re-signed Jack Smith for the 2022 Supercars Championship season, locking up all but one spot on the grid for next year. The new deal takes Smith’s stint with BJR into a sixth year, and a second in full-time Supercars competition. Since joining the top tier Smith has finished 22nd in 2020 and sits 21st this year with one round remaining. The Queenslander scored his best race result in Sydney last year, finishing 10th. JN

AFTER WINNING the 2021 Supercars Championship, Shane van Gisbergen revealed the true extent of the breakage of his left collar bone which occurred in a mountain bike crash earlier this year. “It’s been an awesome year, obviously some challenges early in the year with breaking myself,” he said in a press conference which included Auto Action. “It was a pretty testing time, the shoulder will never be the same again. I’ve got a full-time fake ligament in there and that was probably the limiting thing.” DM KELLY GROVE Racing has added two drivers to its Grove Junior Team stable, inducting karting standouts Oscar Targett and Mika LeMasurier into the new program. The pair join rising Kiwi Matthew Payne as part of the new initiative. Targett brings a background of competing in the Australian Micro Max Championship, as well as numerous Australian Karting up to the sport’s top level KZ2. LeMasurier has achieved several club, state and national podiums across his karting career. JN

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FEENEY FOCUS ON SUPER2 NOT 1000 TRIPLE EIGHT protégé Broc Feeney has stated that his focus until Sundays ‘Great Race’ will primarily be on securing the Super2 Series not his Wildcard entry with Russell Ingall.

Feeney currently leads the title by 129 points with a maximum of 300 on offer at the final round at Bathurst.

“My whole goal has been to try and win the Super2 Series,” he told Auto Action. “We’ve done a really good job this week (at the penultimate round) and that was my biggest focus have a good Sydney and release a bit of pressure off myself going into Bathurst.

“It’s 150 for a race win so let’s do a good job at Bathurst on the Friday, but it’s good to have this this points break.

“Sunday is the Bathurst 1000, the rest of it for me is the Super2 title.

“My solid focus is on the remainder of this year, I’ve been trying to keep very grounded and know what the task is ahead of me (next year).

“My training has ramped up a lot, I felt a lot better this weekend as well. That’s obviously leading into the 1000 which will help me for next year as well.

“I’m feeling really good. I’m just excited, getting experience in the main game in qualifying and doing that stuff.

And yeah, keep battling with the boys in Super2’.

Not only will Feeney be performing double duty, but he will also be the main driver of the #39 Wildcard, but is hoping to improve on his debut finish of 10th with James Courtney last year.

“Looking at the schedule we have actually got quite a few back to backs,”

he said. “I’ll come out of Race 1 and then there’s qualifying 10 minutes later.

“It’s certainly going to be a big weekend for me but that’s why I’ve been training and putting in the hard work.

“There’s no doubt it’s going to be very hard going off last year, the fuel saving, looking after the car, for the main drivers it’s like a sprint race for 1000 kilometres basically so it’s certainly going to be hard for me. I’ve got a good team behind me, so I’ve got full confidence going into it.

“I’m just going to take it as it comes to be honest. It’s hard to know going in there, if I went to Queensland Raceway right now after our testing I’d be like I want to battle the top five so I think our pace is definitely there at Queensland Raceway, but that is very different than Bathurst.

“We’ll wait and see when we get there.

We’ll get through the first practices and

see how competitive we are.

“I know that the car is going to be capable of winning the race. It’s just going to be up to me and Russell to see how fast we go. I was 10th last year, hopefully we can better that by a few this year.”

The recently turned 19-year-old Feeney has been impressed how Ingall, at three times his age, has got back up to speed.

“He has been lot closer than what I thought,” Feeney admitted. “It’s definitely a good thing.

“If I do a qualifying run and he goes out straight after me, at QR he was about 0.25s off, so honestly, that’s damn good because we’re pretty quick at Queensland Raceway.

“He’s doing a really good job. He’s doing his job, which is the main thing and if he does it at Bathurst, I think we will be pretty good.

Dan McCarthy

S5000 FAILURES NO CONCERN FOR BATHURST THERE IS no concern as the S5000 Tasman Series heads to Bathurst after several suspension failures occurred at Sydney Motorsport Park, both category founder Chris Lambden and Barry Rogers explained the cause and effect.

Race 1 saw both rookie Blake Purdie and Garry Rogers Motorsport driver Nathan Herne suffer failures after running wide at Corporate Hill.

Purdie suffered a failure straight away, Herne’s let go at Turn 1 resulting in a spectacular high-speed spin off the road at Turn 1.

“We’ve never had that failure before and obviously we’ve raced at Sydney Motorsport Park previously,” Rogers recalled to Auto Action.

“Really what brought it on was at the exit of Turn 7 Corporate Hill.

“Supercars being there over the four weeks, they’ve just eaten away on the outside of the track there.

“It became quite a big drop off, it hadn’t been maintained throughout that period that Supercars had been there and if you dropped that right-rear-wheel off the side of the track there, basically the ruts caused an issue.”

While Rogers explained the cause, Lambden explained what was failing.

“The balls in the lower arm hit the ground in both those cases, cracked and eventually in the case of Nathan’s car gave way and that is why the car spun off,” he expressed to AA. “It’s not a normal thing at all and there’s no issues about the

suspension itself.

“It was highlighted initially that they need to fix the circuit before we as open-wheelers go back there.

“I don’t think it’s an issue that’s likely to happen anywhere else, certainly not at Bathurst, it’s just a (track) maintenance thing that caught us out, I guess.

But it’s something for the circuit themselves to fix.”

Post-season Garry Rogers Motorsport, which manufactures the S5000 machines will look to see if it can improve the strength of the suspension componentry in case of a similar situation in the future.

“Obviously the boys at work will look at that part and see if there is something we can do to, I suppose, strengthen it so it can cope with that type of thing in future,” Rogers said.

“To be honest with you, we’ll get Bathurst over and done with and when the season concludes, we’ll have a

good look at it and see.

“I’m really not sure exactly what they’ll decide to do, but they’ll do something.

“These cars reliability wise, and I don’t want to jinx myself, but they have been tremendously reliable cars, engines, gearboxes, all this suspension up until this particular incident.

“At the end of the day, those failures are caused by driver error, if the drivers stayed on the racetrack they wouldn’t have had those failures.

“We know the drivers are going to have times where they go off the track, and the cars have got to be able to cope with certain adventures off track.

“As I said to our guys, stay on the track and you’re not gonna have an issue. “(I expect) no issue there (Bathurst) at all, across the top, really, it’s all concrete walls, you’re not gonna be dropping off anywhere there. I can’t see anywhere we’re going to have any issues at all.”

Dan McCarthy

SYDNEY IS GOING NOWHERE

Image: LAT

Rumours of a sale are wrong and strongly denied by Jono Webb

By Paul Gover, News Editor

RYAN: NO REASON WE CAN’T WIN BATHURST AFTER THE Sydney Motorsport Park quadruple header Erebus Motorsport CEO Barry Ryan is full of confidence and expecting a good result in the Bathurst 1000.

In the four back-to-back rounds at Sydney Motorsport Park Erebus Motorsport’s rookies Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki scored four podium finishes, including a win for Brown at the third weekend.

Ryan expressed how impressed he has been with the youthful team, and how the team’s efforts are being rewarded.

Both Brown and Kostecki performed well in their first solo Supercars Championship appearances at the start of the year and he is expecting great things this weekend.

“I think with the experiences they’ve both got now, there is no reason why we can’t actually aim to win Bathurst, not just get a place, as arrogant as that might sound that is what we are going

there for,” he said to Auto Action.

“We’ve got two really solid co-drivers, Jack Perkins been the podium multiple times, Dave Russell is known for his speed, now he’s really matured in the last few years, I can’t wait to see what they do!”

Ryan explained that the pace has come from experience and learnings not performance upgrades and componentry.

When asked if he is confident that this performance will carry over to Bathurst and beyond he replied “Yeah definitely.

“It’s a combination of learning what we’d learned this year already in the first six rounds and being able to reset over a couple of months and really focus,” he said.

“The engineers focussed on what we learnt, what we needed to learn and we did a few little things in the workshop that you don’t usually get time to do on the cars, like weight distribution and stuff.

“It’s been a good effort.

“We actually didn’t bounce out that quick at SMP it was a real struggle, the first practice we actually struggled.

“But because of what they’ve done in the break, we learnt very quickly what they needed to do, we got the set up really good, really quick.

“Again, it’s a credit to the drivers, engineers, and mechanics, everybody’s just doing the job properly. Once you get all that aligned, you can win races and we’ve said that all year.”

Ryan explained why he is confident of a strong 1000 this year.

“It’s not going to be just SMP, we know we’ve been strong on three or four different styles of track,” Ryan said.

“Bathurst we are always strong and at the start of the year both these guys were really strong there, so we just want to tick the box with Bathurst, we won in ‘17, should have won in ‘18, we’re ready to hopefully go back to what we did in 18… but win this time.”

Dan McCarthy

Team Sydney is rock-solid in the hands of Jono Webb, according to the 2016 Bathurst winning team boss.

Despite growing talk of a sale through the four-week Supercars swing at Sydney Motorsport Park, and an admission that “everything is for sale”, Webb tells Auto Action that he has no plans for change.

He and his father Steve, who holds the Racing Entitlements Contract for the team operated

by Tekno Autosports, are both looking for improvement through the Repco Bathurst 1000 and into the 2022 season.

Webb admits that he has been approached about selling, but denies any contact by mercurial Boost boss Peter Adderton, who has been talking about creating his own two-car team at some point.

“I’ve got lots of people chasing me. I’ve had people calling me. But I have not spoken to him (Adderton) for a couple of years,” Webb tells Auto Action.

The Sydney squad has been parked towards the back of the Supercars field through the final races of the 2021 season, despite a recent car revamp and the best efforts of highly-rated lead driver Fabian Coulthard.

“I haven’t forgotten how to drive,” Coulthard tells Auto Action.

But against that background, and with the upcoming change of Supercars’ ownership to the RACE group, speculation is swirling around the future of Team Sydney.

“Everything is for sale. That’s one of the first things that my father taught me in business,” says Webb.

“But I don’t intend to sell it. And I intend to run two cars again next year.”

Webb says one of the reasons to continue in Supercars is the arrival of RACE. “It’s a good business now. We’ve finally got some stability back in the show,” he says.

“For me, the new deal is a good thing. The new group is going to do good things.”

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LATEST NEWS

VALE – DENIS Gregory founder and first President of the Gnoo Blas Classic Car Club, Denis Gregory passed away last Friday at the age of 83. Gregory raced at Gnoo Blas between 1953 and 1961 and was passionate about keeping the memory of the circuit at Orange alive. Although long retired from racing, the former journalist with the Central Western Daily newspaper wrote about the sport for local media and has written books about Gnoo Blas.

GOB DM

JOHN MARTIN will join the S5000 Tasman Series grid at Mount Panorama next week, returning to his open wheeler roots. The 37-year-old joins Luis Leeds in a two-car AGI Sport S5000 entry, driving the same car Ben Bargwanna raced at Sydney Motorsport Park last round. Martin will channel all his experience as S5000 races at Bathurst for the first time, with six races in S5000 under his belt including a win at The Bend Motorsport Park in 2019. JN

THE MOTORSPORT Australia Off Road Championship calendar for 2022 has been announced, consisting of six rounds across all mainland states. New South Wales has been awarded an AORC round for the first time, the Pooncarie Desert Dash joining the schedule as the second event of the year in May. The St George 399 will kick off the season as usual in March, launching the campaign that will run until October. JN

TRIPLE EIGHT ONTO DOUBLE DIGITS

AT THE fourth and final Sydney Motorsport Park round, Triple Eight Race Engineering became the first team to win 10 Supercars Team’s Championship crowns.

Triple Eight has not won the Team’s title for two seasons, as in 2019 and 2020 the honour went to DJR Team Penske.

Team manager and former engineer Mark Dutton expressed that this is down to the fact that everyone works so harmoniously in the team.

The team were ecstatic to win it back. “Everyone’s pumped,” he told Auto Action after the race on Saturday night.

“It’s a big achievement that we always strive to achieve, we didn’t have the team’s championship this year. So the fact that we’ve got it for 2022, for Triple Eight is a huge deal!

“Roland rates the teams championship super highly, so he’ll for sure send out a message to the whole of Triple Eight team to congratulate them on their efforts.

“It’s called the Team’s champion because it reflects on the team

and the effort that goes in from the drivers, engineers, obviously Roland, but all of the crew the fact that you have not just a crew at the track, it’s the crew back home.

“To win a team’s championship, you have to have two reliable cars and two fast cars, making sure the team are dotting I’s and crossing T’s and practicing hard and all those late nights that pay off.”

The harmony he speaks of has not always been clear with his two drivers on track this year, if we think back to the fierce battle on the streets of Townsville and recently when Shane van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup cost themselves victory by fighting for second at SMP. “It was special as you said, it was extra good after the last week,” he expressed when asked by AA. “It was funny, everyone was blowing up about it and the awkwardness it created and all that. “But as a team, we put that to bed Sunday night, we had a good chat before we left the track.

“Super positive, everyone left with

their heads held high and straight away, everyone was focused on the job.

“We still had to debrief the drivers to work out how we do a better job of handling that situation if it should happen again.

“I believe it’s not as straightforward as just saying do as you’re told.

“It’s always easier when we’re all on the same page, we communicate well.”

It has been a phenomenal year, van Gisbergen has won 14 of the 30 races, won the Drivers Championship for a second time, the inaugural Sydney Cup and all with a shoulder injury.

Is it a weight off the shoulders heading into Bathurst?

“It’s such a big deal to win Bathurst.

It’s good to not be worrying about the championship for sure it is,” he said. “But you can’t back off a bit, otherwise, Bathurst will bite you, “You need a perfect preparation.”

The team’s 10th title moves them a staggering five wins clear at the top.

Dan McCarthy

CAM HAS HILLS TO CLIMB

GODDARD ASSESSING 2022 SITUATION TA2 RACING Australia is set for an expansion after announcing that a Western Australian series will be launched in 2022. The newly formed ‘TA2 Muscle Car Western Series’ has attracted over 10 entries already ahead of its debut.

The Western Series will race for their own series point-score and will crown a Western Australian TA2 champion at the end of each season. JN

AUSTRALIAN HENK van den Dungen has been crowned as the 2021 FIA Senior Official of the Year. Beginning his time in motorsport 55 years ago, van den Dungen has progressed through numerous roles, notably holding the National Clerk of Course position at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix since 1985. Van den Dungen started off as a flag marshal and then sector marshal, before moving through the ranks to become a Clerk of Course over 40 years ago. JN

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QUEENSLANDER ZANE GODDARD is looking at all options for next year if he is unable to secure a main game Supercars Championship drive, but expressed he does not want to pay hefty amounts of money for a drive in another series.

Goddard currently races for Matt Stone Racing, however both seats have been taken at the outfit by Jack le Brocq and Todd Hazelwood for not only 2022, but 2023 also.

Now just one seat remains vacant, the second Kelly Grove Racing seat which the Victorian squad hopes will be filled by Kiwi Matthew Payne (Super Licence permitting).

Goddard is looking at all options for next year if he can’t secure a main game seat, but logically he doesn’t want to blow a large budget on a support series.

“Obviously a co-drive,” he said to Auto Action.

Definitely if I don’t have a full-time seat, that’s a no brainer.

Then everything from then on in we are still deciding.”

The former European open-wheel ace competed

in an exhibition round of the S5000 Championship at The Bend Motorsport Park in 2019, AA asked if he would look at racing in that series again next year.

(We’ve) “Got a lot of options that we can do,” he said. “It’s one of those things, you don’t want to spend a big budget on supports, it sort of defeats the whole purpose of being a support.

“We’ve just got to decide and figure out what the best decision for the future is.

“Something keep us in the eyes of all the teams and be comparable to a Supercar so it’s relevant, just got to decide.

“What ever I do, I want to do it well, and like I said before, I want to do it as a career and at the moment, it’s just working out what the best career decision is for the future, so just weighing that all up.”

In Saturday’s SMP 4 encounter Goddard ran on soft tyres in the opening stint and worked his way through up into the top five.

Once there on same aged soft tyres he was able to comfortably mix it with the likes of Chaz Mostert and Anton de Pasquale.

“We had the speed; I was pretty comfortable out there. I’m just trying to make the most of it at the moment and trying to prove that I should be here,” he said.

“I feel like I didn’t get fazed with any of the big-name guys behind me, so did a pretty good job, just a shame the end result.”

Too many laps on the hard tyres cost him dearly and he came home in 19th. Dan McCarthy

T8 GETS THE THREE-POINTED STAR GT RACING is set to become a bigger focus for Triple Eight Race Engineering

By Paul Gover, News Editor GT racing in Australia is about to get a sharper edge thanks to Triple Eight and Mercedes-AMG. The Supercars powerhouse will spearhead a plan to challenge the Audi effort in Australia, which has netted a big string of wins and titles through Melbourne Performance Centre.

The new move is intended to boost the support and uptake of Mercedes-AMG race cars in Australia and New Zealand, as T8 works in conjunction with HWA AG, the satellite spin-off from AMG that was created

by Hans-Werner Aufrecht - one of the founders of AMG - at Affalterbach in Germany for motorsport work.

“It’s been in the works since the start of the year. They were looking for an arrangement here that would align them with the sort of service that Audi have been offering through Melbourne Performance Centre,” T8 supremo, Roland Dane, tells Auto Action.

“We’ve made a considerable investment in infrastructure and parts to do this. We’re re-deploying some of our existing staff.”

“We’ve created some work spaces at Banyo and we’ll be stocking a considerable number of parts for the GT3 and GT4 cars in the country.”

Dane admits there are currently only a relative handful of AMG GT racers

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but he expects that number to grow as GT racing recovers from the Covid pandemic, starting from the Bathurst 12-Hour in late February next year.

“I think it’s a good endorsement on what we’ve been doing so far with the GT world. And hopefully it leads to bigger things. The vehicle carpark at the moment is around 10 cars and we’re looking to increase it.”

The Benz connection means Triple Eight Race Engineering is the factory representative for two major brands, as its factory tie-up to Holden sees it entering the upcoming Gen3 era in Supercars as the official homologation team for General Motors and the Chevrolet Camaro. It was also a factory-backed touring car team for Ford.

T8 has already forged close ties to Mercedes-AMG, racing in the Bathurst 12-Hour sports car classic, as well as GT races in Australia and the Asian region.

Most recently, it has fielded a GT3 car for Malaysia’s Prince Jefri Ibrahim, and a line-up of T8 drivers led by Supercars stand-out Shane van Gisbergen that grew last week to include long-time

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Benz affiliate Peter Hackett,.

It plans to cut supply times and boost services, including engineering and repairs, for the German GT cars. A dedicated workshop and stores area has been created at T8’s race base in the Brisbane suburb of Banyo and a long-standing HWA expert, Andrew Barrett, will continue as support engineer under the new deal.

“We take very seriously the task of the expanded affiliation with the Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing brand, with the provision of both factory parts and service for GT3 and GT4 cars in Australia and New Zealand,” says Dane.

“Having been part of both the Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing and Performance Racing program over the last few years, everyone at Triple Eight is very excited and honoured.”

T8 will continue to compete as a Customer Team for HWA, and/or a Performance Team of Mercedes-AMG in major events including the 12-Hour, and will be authorised to provide test drives for GT3 and GT4 customers

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and motorsport experiences in conjunction with the AMG Driving Academy.

The new business relationship is welcomed by Mercedes-Benz Australia and also Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing in Germany.

“We have found the perfect partner for the implementation of this task,” says Stefan Wendl, head of Merceds-AMG Customer Racing.

“The company is working in a highly-professional way and also has the engineering expertise to carry out repair and rebuild work, next to spare part supply and sales logistics, in accordance with our high quality standards. The new motorsport hub pools all Customer Racing competences for the region at the same level as in Affalterbach.”

Although T8 is currently focussed on parts and service, its future plans could include creating an ‘arrive and drive’ service.

“Potentially, yes,” says Dane.

He is also looking closely at the upcoming 12-Hour, but is not making any commitment despite T8 being the race base for a pair of GT3 racers owned by Johor Motorsport and driven

by Prince Jefri.

“It remains to be seen. We’re still waiting to hear exactly what the rules are for the 12-Hour,” he says.

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Motorsport Images

THE VALUE OF MOTORSPORT INDUSTRY ‘NO SURPRISE’ TO MA’S EUGENE AROCCA MOTORSPORT AUSTRALIA CEO Eugene Arocca ‘wasn’t completely surprised’ that a recent Ernst & Young report valued the economic contribution of motorsport to Australia at $8.6 billion.

The report, which studied the economic contribution of the Australian motorsport industry in 2019, found that the industry recorded close to $10 billion of total output and added $2.8 billion of value to the Australian economy.

Arocca, who leads the commissioning body of the report, was not shocked by the significant findings.

“I must say I wasn’t completely surprised,” Arocca told Auto Action.

“We’ve had the benefit of doing a similar report seven years ago, the EY (Ernst & Young) report of 2014.

“The 2014 report gave us a really good starting point and base upon which we can then measure our growth.

“The 2019 report justifies what we believe to be the continuing growth of motorsport in Australia, the growth of motorsport around the world.

“And more importantly, the fact that our members, competitors and officials love the sport dearly and contribute significantly to it out of their own pockets.”

Australia’s eastern states make up the bulk of the nations output, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland combined accounting for nearly three quarters of the national figures.

Arocca was keen to celebrate the nation as a whole though, pointing to our performance on an international scale.

“I think when we got the global report of $159 billion, it wasn’t a surprise to me that ours was $8.6 billion, despite the fact that there are about 130 countries included in that.

“We punch way above our size. Per capita, before the pandemic, we had more licenced competitors than any other country in the world.

“We’ve lost the automotive manufacturing business in between the 2014 and 2019 reports but that hasn’t dented the enthusiasm of our members, competitors and officials.”

Read the next issue of Auto Action #1826 for a full breakdown of the industry report and what it means for Australian motorsport industry across the country. Josh Nevett

SUPER2 FOR NASH MORRIS

DUNLOP SUPER3 point leader Nash Morris will step up to Super2 in 2022. The son of Bathurst winner Paul Morris has a narrow 54-point lead in the series after the second race in round three was red flagged at Sydney Motorsport Park due to the wet conditions and on-track accidents.

“We would have done it earlier (after the break from Townsville) but for the Super Licence points that go with winning a championship,” said Nash’s father.

“Whether we do it in our car – we have a Falcon FG/X – or with someone else remains to be seen.

We have already had an offer from Eggleston Motorsport.”

The Morris’ have no intension to compete in Porsche Carrera Cup or similar. “If you want to get to Supercars, then Super 3 and Super 2 is the way to go,” Paul added.

So far, the Morris-instigated Norwell Driving Centre program has achieved with Nash what it has for the other drivers that have gone on to bigger things – the likes of Anton de Pasquale, Brodie Kostecki andARG/Daniel Broc Feeney.

Kalisz “A lot of people think I just do laps of Norwell, but Dad doesn’t really let me slack off that much.

I try and get out there for a few minutes every afternoon with dad or Robbo (Steve Robinson), all those coaches up there do a great job. You see through all the results with everyone who has been there, have achieved great things. Hopefully I just follow in their footsteps and just keep going,” Nash said.

He has three firsts, two seconds and a third out

12 AutoAction

of the seven races contested in Super3.

Morris also competes in other categories such as Hyundai Excels where he and Broc Feeney paired up to win an enduro at Queensland Raceway, and he race a TA2 Mustang to several race wins at the same circuit.

In summarizing the season to date Nash said, “I raced a lot of other stuff during that mid-section, but geez it’s been good to be back in the in the Super3 car, it’s so good to drive.

“I enjoy running out of our own shop, we have a lot of freedom, what I can do when you are trying Insyde Media to drive for yourself or for your dad.

“So, it’s great, because I work at Norwell as well, so I’ll be able to go and prep the cars just before the race meetings and make sure it’s all good to go.

“Our goal was to always come in to try win the championship, which I think we are achieving, we are leading it but nothing’s done yet. It’s not done until that chequered flag waves in that last race.

“I definitely feel like I’m ready to step up,” Nash concluded. Garry O’Brien and Dan McCarthy

N PERFORMANCE BOLSTER BUCHAN BACKING HYUNDAI’S SUB-BRAND N Performance will bolster its support of TCR Australia team HMO Customer Racing and its driver Josh Buchan for the TCR Bathurst 400.

He currently sits third in the standings entering the Bathurst finale, just ahead of team-mate Nathan Morcom as both remain a mathematical chance to win the title.

Buchan has strong ties with the N Performance brand, acting as a driver trainer on its corporate days and tester of its new variants.

Buchan was grateful for the support of N Performance and Hyundai throughout his career.

“It’s no secret that the manufacturer is one of the reasons for where I am,” Buchan said.

“It’s exciting, the i30 N TCR looks good and can’t wait to represent N Performance at Bathurst.”

HMO Customer Racing will also be attending this year’s N Performance festival at Winton in December, showcasing the TCR product to keen

supporters of Hyundai’s sub-brand.

As well as increasing its sponsorship of Buchan, N Performance will make its presence known at Mount Panorama through a brand activation in Harris Park which will demonstrate the range of models including the new i20 N and KONA N in front of fans.

Australian Racing Group CEO Matt Braid welcomed the increased involvement of Hyundai.

“It is great to see Hyundai increase its support for HMO Customer Racing in the TCR Australia Series,” Braid said.

“The N Performance brand is an important element of Hyundai’s presence in Australia, and there’s no better place for the brand to be seen on a race car than at Mount Panorama this week.” Josh Nevett

ZACH IS LATEST FROM BATES’ TALENT DYNASTY

HE IS very good, racing in his Mygale SJ109 Formula Ford, and Zach Bates has been exceptional aboard the team’s Toyota 86.

This year he has improved that much, that he is in a class of his own in the Toyota GAZOO Racing Australia 86 Series. Although the category competitors are not racing for points, due to Covid conditions that have restricted many interstaters from racing, the 17-year-old Year 11 Canberra Grammar student has won the last eight races straight.

But where does he go after this year’s racing has finished? “We don’t know,” said his mentor and father Rick Bates.

“We could be here (in Toyotas) next year, but we really don’t have the funding to look into anything at the moment,” he added. Already the Formula Ford is on the market.

Bates competed in the Twilight

Rallysprint Series round in February 2019 before debuting in the NSW Formula Ford Championship in May of that year where he won the first race and followed up with a pair of thirds.

He competed at another three rounds and finished in the top three six times.

He continued to race rounds of the 2020 state series and this year was unbeaten at the second round.

The first Toyota Racing event was at Bathurst in February this year where he qualified third, was third in race one, 14th in the second outing, and 12th in the third. The next event was Townsville in July where he qualified fastest and won each of the three races. The following events were both at Sydney Motorsport Park where he was again unbeaten.

Unlike his father, uncle Neal, cousins Harry and Lewis, Zach has not yet experienced a rally, “But I would like give it a go!” Garry O’Brien

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LATEST NEWS

B12HR OFFICIALLY RESCHEDULED A NEW date has been announced for the Bathurst 12 Hour. Australia’s biggest GT endurance event will now take place from February 25-27.

The race, remains as the opening round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge season, and is the Bathurst 12 Hour is now generally recognised as one of the biggest GT races around the globe.

The 2022 event’s new date is three weeks later than the traditional early February slot but also three weeks before the provisional weekend announced by SRO Motorsports Group in October.

With the new date now confirmed, the February running continues dating back to 2008 and builds on the 12

Hour’s tradition of launching each new Australian motorsport season.

“The Bathurst 12 Hour has become a favourite event of the motorsport landscape both in Australia and around the world,” said Supercars Chief Operating Officer Shane Howard.

“Being held on Australia’s spiritual motorsport home, Mount Panorama, the race has become one of the most popular on the GT racing calendar and is held in such high esteem by some of the best teams and brands globally.

“The team behind the event will work to offer a memorable experience for those attending trackside and we are very excited to have now locked in a date to bring the event back next February.”

Australia’s International Enduro, as it’s commonly known, was first held with local Series Production cars in 1991 before the switch to FIA GT3 regulations in 2011.

Five years later Bathurst hosted the inaugural round of Intercontinental GT Challenge which has remained a cornerstone of the event ever since.

That timeframe also coincides with five different winning manufacturers in as many seasons.

“Bathurst is the championship’s spiritual season opener, has an atmosphere like no other, and is rightly considered one of the world’s great endurance races, said Stephane Ratel, SRO Motorsports Group Founder and CEO.

“IGTC’s teams, drivers and manufacturers have undoubtedly played a role in amplifying this status, and I cannot wait to see their return to the mountain in 2022.

“Maintaining the event’s traditional early February date wasn’t an option but after consulting with teams, manufacturers and Supercars it also became apparent that an alternative weekend that month would be preferable to March when the Australian, European and American seasons begin ramping up.

“I think we’ve found a good balance between the two, which also allows us to keep an important element of what makes Bathurst special.”

Dan McCarthy

SPORTS SEDANS TITLE UP FOR GRABS AT THE BEND THE PRECISION International-National Sports Sedans Series run its final round at Shannons Nationals finale.

The event will take place in South Australia, at The Bend Motorsport Park. The Sports sedans have a new series leader in Michael Robinson who now leads the points after a trio of podium finishes at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit last weekend.

Robinson leads by just a single point ahead of the season decider at The Bend, which will take place from December 10-12.

Previous leader Steve Tamasi heads into the Shannons Nationals round sitting second, after failing to finish one of the races at Phillip Island.

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It was that man who triumphed in the main race, however, taking victory in the prestigious Sports Sedan 50k plate. Shane Woodman has risen to third in the points after a consistent weekend in his BMW M3 GTR. You can read the full round report on page 59 in this issue of Auto Action.

The Bend welcomes a host of categories to close out the racing calendar, Porsche Carrera Cup Australia, Aussie Racing Cars Super Series, Porsche Sprint Challenge Australia, Australian Prototype Series, Australian Production Car Series and the Porsche 944 Series joining the Sports Sedans in South Australia. Josh Nevett

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Sport SMAXX Race 2

NEW SOUTH WALES

VERSA MOTORSPORT PRAGA TO PLAN S5000 RACE EXPANSION

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FRESH OFF the announcement Praga will BRAND-NEW S5000 outfit Versa that Motorsport be distributing its highly successful R1 race car is working on expanding to two entries in 2022 down under, Australia/New Zealand director after debuting with Cooper Webster at Sydney Rick Campbell revealed moreofdetails about Motorsport Parkhas in the first round the 2021 the machine’s category eligibility and local Tasman Series. demand.

Although the team could not confirm a second Nowjust thatyet, the itANZ of Praga’s global driver wasbranch in the process of planning network has been confirmed, the manufacturer an expansion for next year according to Team aims toToby havePope. its car entered in Australian racing Owner by early 2022.

“We are starting with a blank piece of paper,” Campbell hasAction. said that the R1 will initially fit Pope told Auto into Motorsport Australia 2A category, “We have signed CooperGroup Webster as our first comprising of ‘Sports Cars, open and driver for next season but are going to closed’. run a “At this stage we’re looking at the Motorsport process to look for a team mate to run alongside Australia 2A category,” Campbell told AA. Cooper.

“Hopefully, hearing some noises that “Building outwe’re the team personnel and structure there may eventually be a new prototype is priority one. We have a long list of equipment category thatto will include and LMP-type cars, that we need fabricate acquire and a obviously the Radicals, andPragas. testing program to complete to be ready.

“Butbethat’s a bit of a Toteam Be Advised, more just “To a front running we believe having noises we heard at this stage. a multi-car team is important evidenced by 5 out stands theseason’s momentstandings the 2A category is ofAs theit top 6 in at last being part where we’d sit.” of 3 car teams.”

The R1first hasouting performed wellhad in itsa initial In thePraga team’s Webster mixed stints in the UK, USA, and Europe, recording bag of results, finishing seventh in Race 1 before over 30 wins and podiums as second well as winning climbing to the podium in the outing. the 2020 Britcar Endurance Championship.

He finished 11th in the final race, ranking him The design features lightweight (643kg), seventh overall for the aweekend. composite monocoque powered by a 272kW Versa will not head to Mount Panorama for four-cylinder engine. the second leg of the Tasman Series but Pope Campbell thatatdemand for encourthe R1 believed thatbelieved the results SMP were would come from both competitive racing aging heading into a full campaign next year. outfits and amateur enthusiasts.

“We have an expectation and a hope and a

drive and desire that this willtalent not only “Cooper is an exceptional thatbecome made the involved in competitions, but we also most out of the performance in the carsee heawas bigger market in terms of a track day warrior,” given,” Pope said.

Campbell said.

“To end up with a podium in Race 2 was an “As long as people can he getmissed on track, we all of outstanding result given almost believe that the car will generate a significant the four-hour practice on Thursday night. amount of interest offbefore from there.”

“We only got the and car atake week the The Praga R1 is set to be offered forracing $400,000 meeting and weren’t expecting to be until on Australian shores and has generated strong next year so that fact the car ran faultlessly and interest beyond its initial two-car distribution. was competitive exceeded our expectations!

“We would, based on our projections, expect “We wanted to support the launch of the that we can sell initially somewhere in the Tasman Series, so we pushed hard to get to vicinity of eight 10 cars,” predicted. the meeting buttohave neverCampbell been more unpre“We are on the verge of signing an official pared.” distribution agreement through a veryas it looks The team has clear goals for 2022, significant player currently in the Australian auto to compete with category powerhouses Team market to represent us in different states as BRM and Garry Rogers Motorsport. well.

“As a team next season our focus is providing massive caveat that is people’s a“A well organised andaround positive professional access to the track because this is atotrack environment that allows our drivers haveonly the car, not like a Porsche GT3 RS or something tools to perform at their best,” Pope said. that you can track road.”and assist the “We also want to and represent As for the future, Campbell suggested that its category in the best way possible to facilitate Praga may look to expand their product range if growth. their on-track success continues.

“The other teams competing in the champi“Discussions been had,” onship are veryhave well already credentialed, especially in Campbell said. open wheel categories, however our overall goal “This is obviously as always will be totheir win.”flagship product, so I would surmise it’s a case of S5000 walk before you The final round of the 2021 Tasman run.

Series will support the Supercars Champi“OnceBathurst that’s happened, we’ll be looking to onship 1000 at Mount Panorama from extend with additional products which will be November 30 – December 5. Josh Nevett very much focused on the race car models they offer.” Josh Nevett

PRAGA SET FOR FIRST TEST DOWN UNDER

THE HIGHLY successful Praga R1 race car will complete its first laps in Australia this week during a private testing session at Winton Raceway.

One week after the first example arrived on Australian shores, it is set to record its first local kilometres at the track in country Victoria on both Wednesday and Thursday, with Praga ANZ (Australia/New Zealand) director Rick Campbell behind the wheel.

Campbell, who heads up the Australian operation alongside Nik Manukyan, was excited to move the R1 closer to a local debut next year.

“The first testing session in the Praga R1 in the first car in Australia is taking place from December 1-2,” Campbell told Auto Action.

“It’s a private session up at Winton Raceway which will be fantastic.

“We will shake it out, spend some time with the engineers and my driving coach and start to get used to the downforce and the light weight, it should be good.

“My coach at Zagame Autosport, Rod Wilson, has taken me all the way through the state series this year and will be up there with me as well.”

Praga’s will likely be entered in the brand-new Motorsport Australia Sportscar Championship next year, which combines Radicals, prototype machines and LMP3 cars in a single competition.

That leaves the Summer for Campbell and co. to get a handle on the lightweight machines before they enter official competition in 2022.

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“We’re keeping it as a fairly tight group for the closed session before we bring it down to Phillip Island, all going well, on December 17,” Campbell said.

“Then as many sessions as we can get next year while we wait for Motorsport Australia to confirm the prototype series details for 2022.

“Fortunately, enough, I have been able to tap into a number of the drivers in the UK particularly Miles Lacey from Praga UK, who had a very successful season.”

One R1 has been officially sold in Australia thus far, with the second accounted for and arriving this month.

Campbell explained that potential buyers were keen to see the car in the flesh.

“There’s been a massive amount of interest but, like myself, everyone wants to see the car first and foremost,” Campbell said.

“We will hold a specific invite only track day for those that are interested.

“The next one for sale should arrive in February.”

The Praga R1 has performed well in its initial stints overseas dozens of race wins as well as winning the 2020 Britcar Endurance Championship.

The design features a lightweight (643kg), composite monocoque surrounding a 272kW four-cylinder engine. Josh Nevett

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AA’S SAYS SUPERCARS NEW of AA’sCOLUMNIST columnist considers the importance eventsCOME at Le Mans OWNERSHIP CAN’T SOON ENOUGH AFTER THE BAD SMP. LAST WEEKEND’S 24 OPTICS Hours of LeOF Mans won’t go down as the one of the classics, yet it was a hugely significant event WITH SHOWERS forecast throughout Bathurst’s mega race nonetheless. week, I’m wondering how many fans might, after events at The 89th running of the 24 Heures du Mans marked the start Sydney Motorsport Park, baulk at making the pilgrimage? After of a new era for the French classic – the Hypercar age. There all, the message communicated loud and clearregarding on November was also a game-changing announcement the 21 cars is that Supercars now avoids racing in the wet.

I know I’ll now which will contest the GT classes from 2024. hesitate in getting my backsidewith trackside on a mildly rainy day,for These were developments substantial ramifications wondering if the racers want to race. motor sport’s premier divisions and races globally, with a rub-off I would have been Let comfortable with the teams’ desire not to effect for Australia. me explain… contest race 30 if it was fully based on driver But several The first Hypercar-flavoured Le Mans wassafety. somewhat wanted to pull theon plug mitigate risk ofscoring damaging cars underwhelming thetotrack withthe Toyota its fourth before the Repco Bathurst 1000,against as several leading figures consecutive win at Le Sarthe, some pretty flimsy interviewedinindicated, doesn’t sit well with me. It was a opposition the newand topthat division. very bad look for the category.

Teams1-2, gaveleading fans thehome two-finger Toyota’s GR010 Hybrids finished a salute that day. LMP1 Alpine entry and the only other two all‘grandfathered’ TheHypercars, reign of Supercars’ new owners, RACE, can’t come soon new the Glickenhaus 007s. enough.

It’sthe gotAmerican to take control before current powerbrokers, Good on minnow forthe having a crack against the the teams,powerhouse. drive away both the casually-interested and how long-term Japanese It will be fascinating to see the tiny fans. Supercarsfares needs to rediscover customer Fast. manufacturer when other bigits guns arrive.focus.

And let me tell you, they’re coming in numbers.

The sport needs to stop pandering to the teams in every respect.

Peugeot joins Hypercar funJamie in 2022, specialist racing Triple Eight andthe Erebus bigwigs Whincup and Barry team too.

FerrariCommission in 2023. Meantime, Le Mans Ryan,ByKolles who serve as Then a Supercars member and Hypercars will be joined on track by marques competing ‘alternate’ respectively, were vocal in declining to race. Both in America’s LMDhshould classdon in IMSA. LHDh,hat anand awkward moniker commissioners a marketing considered how denoting Le Mans Daytona hybrid, has already attracted their sport was perceived via the pathetic turn of events. commitments Acura, BMW and Others will

BY THE time from this issue hitsAudi, newsstands, the Porsche.

S5000 category follow, lured by the prospect of competing in IMSA and at Le will have practiced and qualified for its first ever event at Mount Mans.

Panorama. Thursday December 2 goes down in history as the Excitingly for Antipodeans, Team Penske operate a day big, high-powered openwheelers returnedwill to race on Magic pair Porsche prototypes in IMSA and two more in the World Mountain. This hugely significant occurrence has been a long Endurance time coming.Championship. This means Penske’s IndyCar stars Will andsince ScottNiel McLaughlin will well-placed to fill out It’sPower 51 years Allen etched hisbename into the record the line-ups at the blue ribbon 12and 24-hour events. books as the only driver to race a Formula 5000 at the hallowed The convergence of sportscar rules globally – previously circuit.

The Sydneysider lowered Mount Panorama’s lap recordthe US and European scenes have done their own thing means on Easter Monday 1970 in his McLaren M10B-Chevrolet,–posting we are entering a golden era. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it a 2 minutes 9.7 seconds lap during the three-lap, magnificently again, sportscar racing is the next big thing in world motorsport. named Captain Cook Trophy.

There’s likely to be a significant drain of manufacturer money Sadly, there was no television coverage, although a precious 30 away from Formula 1 in the years ahead. Surely Mercedes-Benz seconds of spectator-shot vision exists on YouTube. Whet your will be lured to Le Mans and Daytona. There’s only so much appetite for this weekend’s Tasman Series event by searching for credibility to be gained from beating an energy drink company ‘Niel Allen Bathurst McLaren M10B Easter 1970’. This footage of in F1, despite the self-importance of Red Bull. the Forrest’s Elbow is almost akin to vision of F1M10B snobsatshould know there was ahaunting, time, admittedly 50-odd the last Tasmanian Tiger in captivity. years ago, when sportscar racing and single-seaters shared the Allen’s wassport’s set ontop the dogs.

6.172km pre-Caltex version billing astime motor History mightChase just be about to of the track.

His time was not beaten before the Chase’s 1987 repeat. installation added 41 provides metres and, more significantly, Endurance racing many things that arethree important corners, to the layout, on Conrod Straight.

Which of course to automotive manufacturers as the world heads towards means his incredible lap will live on as the original hybridisation and electrification – reliability and layout’s range among benchmark more. them.

Fundsforever currently invested elsewhere will soon be diverted took 32 years for anyone to lower Allen’s time on the longer, to Itsportscar racing. revised circuit.

Brad Jones (Falcon AU) round. did so inThe posting the January Hopefully Australia will gain a WEC Bend’s 2002hosting Bathurstof1000’s fastest enroute to second placeanwith 2020 the Asian Lelap, Mans Series was surely John Bowe.of the venue’s ultimate intentions. indication Events forofsingle-seaters were held at the ARDC’s Perhaps more significance locally was the LeEaster Mans meetings until ’73 and although were will entered the last organisers’ announcement thatF5000 GT3 cars replace GTE three yearsinnone showed,ultra-popular making Allen’sGT efforts trulyfrom unique. machines the event’s classes 2024.

It’sfollows almost extraordinary to think, this day-and-age, thatonly such This the development thatinGT3 cars will be the machines used in IMSA’s classes year. if GT3 machines will again race at GT Bathurst, let from alonenext attempt to As lower wasn’t already a juggernaut. the current official lap record of 1:59.2910. This time was set by Potential new manufacturers able to develop cars that German Christopher Mies duringwill the be 2018 Challenge Bathurst are eligible to race at Le Mans – and just about everywhere super sprint event on 16 November 2018, driving a GT3-spec else.

Chevrolet now The odds-on build a GT3-spec Corvette.

V10 Audi R8isUltra. fastesttolap set during an actual race is As I’ve noted before, Ford may even follow suit re its Mustang, Shane van Gisbergen’s 2:01.5670 aboard, fittingly, a McLaren –with motor making 12 positive noises in that a 650Ssport GT3 chief modelMark duringRushmore the 2016 Bathurst Hour sportscar regard.

Now stop and consider the implications of an annual race. In my mind SVG’s time is the outright record. Hopefully Ford vs GM battle at Bathurst each February in the both are eclipsed this week by an S5000 frontrunner. 12 Hour?

What effect on the 1000?

I can’t waitmight to seethat howhave it all unfolds.

LukeWest Westisisaalong-time long-timeAuto AutoAction Actioncolumnist columnistand andauthor authorofofThe The Luke ImmortalsofofAustralian AustralianMotor MotorRacing: Racing:the theLocal LocalHeroes.

Heroes.

Immortals

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BIG YEAR NOW DAKAR BOUND World Rally Championship, Extreme E and now Dakar. It’s been a big year for Molly Taylor

By Paul Gover, News Editor IT’S TAKEN 15 years for Molly Taylor to become an overnight sensation in global motorsport.

The youngster who packed her bags and travelled to Britain in the hope of cracking a drive in the World Rally Championship is now a 33-year-old Extreme E superstar.

Now she is headed for her first Dakar in Saudi Arabia, and was even invited to drive in the WRC by the team where she was once a lowly-paid worker bee.

Taylor’s Dakar entry in a CanAm side-by-side has just been confirmed and she is also headed to the Extreme E grand final in Britain with one hand on the inaugural championship trophy.

She has completed her WRC program with the factory Ford outfit, M-Sport, finishing on a high in Finland after a mechanical failure in Greece and a giant crash “my mistake” in Estonia.

“It’s been a rollercoaster. Overall, it’s been an amazing experience and lots of good things have come out of it,” Taylor tells Auto Action.

“Personally, it’s been a really tough six months. You never know where you’re going to be, and living out of a suitcase all the time is not easy.

“It’s been way too busy. But there are some incredible opportunities.

It’s just about building momentum and trying to keep it all going.

“One thing happens, then it feeds into another. And it’s nice that it’s going in the right direction.”

Taylor is back in Australia for a brief break, and a visit to her parents Coral and Mark - both rally veterans - in Sydney, before heading back for Extreme E and then the build-up to the Dakar.

“It’s been cool to be back overseas and competing at that level. The events have been great,” she says.

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“With Extreme E being part of something new in so many ways, it’s great to be a part of that.”

But it wasn’t always like that.

Taylor was into rallying early, as her father Mark ran a rally school and mother Coral was a multiple national champion as co-driver with Neal Bates and then the team’s long-term co-ordinator.

After showing promising speed in the Australian championship, she headed for Europe and got a job at Malcolm Wilson’s M-Sport operation in northern Britain. Life was tough, money was short, but Taylor was determined to succeed.

“It was hard work. But I was able to get up through the British Championship, the European championship and the junior WRC. It was always progressing.

“But the higher you go, the more pressure on budgets. It’s the same story for everyone in motorsport.”

In 2009 she was the British womens’ champion, then in 2013 she was the womens’ champion again in the FIA European Rally Championship.

But then money ran short, the frustration was high, and she came home to rest and rebuild.

Then Subaru came calling and she became the company’s rally spearhead, a role once held by the late-and-great Possum Bourne and then Cody Crocker, before claiming the national title in 2016.

She was the youngest winner at the time, and the first woman anywhere in the world to claim a major championship, and continued as a Subaru brand ambassador.

“You need that big break. And, for me, that’s what the Subaru Australia thing was,” she says.

And then Nico Rosberg called …

At first, Taylor thought it was a prank but then she realised it was a genuine offer to join the former

F1 champion’s Extreme E team alongside rallycross star Johan Kristofferson. The pair won the first event and have been up at the front for the whole of season 2021.

“It was great to see how many people tuned-in to the first round. You never really knew it would happen.

“But there was a lot of interest and a great reception. To be able to be in that spotlight has been a good thing.”

It means Taylor has a six-figure salary for the first time, gets to travel in relative comfort, has even stayed in a six-star hotel “like a palace” and seen some amazing places and met genuine motorsport superstars.

She’s also made the journey with her partner Dan, who she describes as “a great wife”, although the downside has been several debilitating stints of hotel quarantine on the way back to Australia.

The next call-up is for Dakar and she has already completed her first shakedown, with Aussie co-driver Dale Moscatt alongside, with the South Racing Cam-Am team in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.

It was a multi-day event, mostly in Moroccan dunes, and a dramatically new experience.

“That was amazing. It was just so different to anything I’ve done before. Being out in those dunes is just a world apart,” she says. “ The beginning was pretty daunting, because I was learning how to do it. And then, after couple of days, I started to find my way a bit and was it super enjoyable.

“I can definitely see now why so many people rave about cross-country rally.”

She will get plenty more in early 2022 when she and Moscatt line-up for the Dakar in Saudi Arabia, again with a Can-Am. “I’m not under-estimating the challenge that is Dakar. There is so much you need to learn. “it’s being in the desert, navigation, looking after the car, finding the right balance of speed. We need to learn and improve. And not have too many performance expectations.

“We have to feel out way into it and then see where we are.”

But Taylor’s place is certain to include a second season of Extreme E with Rosberg X Racing and perhaps some sprint action in the World Rally Championship.

“I would like to be back doing some stuff, but nothing is confirmed. Who knows at this stage?”. She says.

PERONI PICKS ENDURANCE FUTURE FORMER FORMULA 3 Championship podium finisher Alex Peroni has told Auto Action that he has switched his focus from open-wheel racing to endurance racing after contesting the post-season FIA World Endurance Championship rookie test.

The Australian drove a GTE Am Ferrari 488 prepared by Iron Lynx, when he shared the machine with Benjamin Goethe.

Earlier this year Peroni ended his maiden Indy Lights season early as he sees a much brighter future for himself in endurance racing.

“It was important, we made this decision and made this transition,” Peroni told Auto Action.

“It’s not easy to give up on the open-wheel dream when you’ve been working towards that all your life, but I think it’s mega timing to get into this industry of endurance racing with the LMDh regulations.

“A lot of manufacturers coming in the next couple of years, and I think that’s going to trickle down to the LMP2 and the GT categories as well.

“I think it makes sense for me, I think it makes sense for a lot of my supporters as well, we all agree it’s the right move and I’m very excited to get going.”

After competing in the FIA Formula 3 Championship for two seasons Peroni moved to the America to

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compete in Indy Lights this season and opened up on why the move did not work out as he originally foresaw.

“We did Indy Lights hoping to make a pathway into IndyCar,” he recalled.

“This was kind of our last hurrah in single seaters.

“It was a late decision from our part, but also from Carlin’s part, they didn’t have any of their equipment until late December.

“We decided that we should do it, which in hindsight, maybe it wasn’t the best idea to go into a season with only a few days testing, both for me and the team, so it didn’t go to plan.

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“It was clear that IndyCar wasn’t going to be possible anymore, Indy Lights is very expensive, and it made sense for me and for my supporters to save that bit of budget and put it towards next year.

“I think it was definitely the right idea because I’ve had these opportunities to test LMP2 and GTE Am, try and impress people and hopefully get a good deal for next year. If we continued in Lights, it was a bit of a dead end for us for sure.”

Peroni felt that taking part in an official WEC test alongside names such as Robert Kubica is great to get his name out there.

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“To do it in front of the WEC paddock is a good thing, and it also helps to get my name out there.

“It’s all motorsport, but the Formula world and the GT endurance world is kind of is different in a way. I’m a bit more known in formula, but not as much as the endurance world, it’s good to get my name out a bit, try the car and just kind of evaluate our options for next year.

“It was really important to get in early as well, just when the season finished. I’ve put myself out there and I’ve done my bit, so now it’s up to the teams to make a decision.”

Dan McCarthy

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NEW TRU-BLU FALCON MEETS OLD

ONE OF the most famous cars in Mount Panorama history has come face-to-face with its modern recreation at Bathurst’s National Motor Racing Museum.

40 years after it famously won the Great Race, the original ‘Tru-Blu’ Ford Falcon made famous by Touring Car legend Dick Johnson has come face-toface with its modern recreation, driven

by Dick’s son Steven in the Gulf Western Oils Touring Car Masters Series.

Johnson’s iconic 1981 ‘Tru-Blu’ Ford XD Falcon Touring Car holds a special place in the history of Australian Motorsport, delivering Johnson and co-driver John French a Bathurst win in 1981, twelve months after the famous ‘rock’ incident.

The car was built in time for the 1981 season, the resulting explosion of attention, donations and fan interest following ‘The Rock’ incident helping forge the Johnson legacy as one of the sport’s most famous surnames.

The car also won the 1981 Australian Touring Championship and has since become one of the most iconic in Australian Touring Car racing history.

The original Falcon is currently on display in the National Motor Racing Museum, on loan to the extensive collection from the Bowden family in Queensland.

40 years later, Steven Johnson’s Touring Car Masters XD Falcon has rapidly become one of the most

popular cars in the category.

“Standing looking at these two cars, it’s pretty emotional actually,” Johnson said.

“It’s the first time the cars have been together.

“It shows the history and to have two cars together that look so similar, even though they are two eras and two different sets of rules – and different sponsors – is incredible.

“Our sponsors have been fantastic in that for a lot of them, their logos are not their style – but they’ve allowed that to happen so it looks very similar to the 1980, 1981 car.

“To look at both of them together is just magnificent.”

“Tru Blu was such a significant

car in the history of my family and I remember it being in our garage at Daisy Hill when I was a kid, with Dad working on it.

“It’s really special to get them together like this 40 years on from that Bathurst moment that was really significant to our family.”

As well as scoring its first race win earlier this year, ‘Tru-Blu Mk. III’ also won a poll of TCM fans voting for their favorite car, amassing more than 4,000 votes along the way.

Johnson won in the car at Sydney Motorsport Park last time out and remains in contention for his fourth Gulf Western Oils Touring Car Masters crown this weekend, as part of the massive six-day Bathurst 1000 event.

HONDA DEBUT NEW UPGRADES AT BATHURST TCR AUSTRALIA Series teams Wall Racing and Team Soutar Motorsport have debuted new upgrades for its Honda Civic Type R TCRs received since the last round at Sydney Motorsport Park in May. These upgrades have been used successfully in other markets namely in the World Touring Car Cup (WTCR).

“In the time that we’ve had away since our last TCR event there were some upgrades available for our cars,” said David Wall, Wall Racing.

“Those upgrades are a lot of little things put together; I wouldn’t say there is anything major.

“The cosmetic part of it is a different front bar as well as lots of bits and pieces.

“We hope it’ll improve the longevity for tyre wear and a few other subtle things that should improve our overall package.”

The most noticeable item as part of the kit is an upgraded front bumper and splitter designed with a smoother edge profile as well as a larger air inlet.

Improved are the cooling ducts providing larger openings and designed using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The rear wing also features improved pylons and fixings resulting in better positioning to enable greater efficiency, so too

wing sensitivity.

Also new a gear ratio is included to optimise the latest engine map to provide a more progressive RPM drop.

While front suspension componentry has also been finessed to aid in tyre wear management ahead of Supercheap Auto TCR Australia’s longest races in its history.

As Australia’s JAS Motorsport agent, Wall Racing has supplied Team Soutar Motorsport with its kit in addition to its own two Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series Civic Type Rs of which John Martin will race one in this weekend’s TCR Bathurst 400.

Rhys Vandersyde

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DOUBLE DUTIES A CHALLENGE FOR FEENEY TRIPLE EIGHT Race Engineering rising star Broc Feeney is in for a challenging Bathurst 1000 week at Mount Panorama, according to Super2 Team Manager Matt Cook.

Feeney will be vying for the title in the Super2 Series finale as well as competing in the Bathurst 1000 alongside Russell Ingall, creating a hectic schedule for the 19-year-old driver.

There are several drivers undertaking double duties next week but Cook believed Feeney was in a unique situation as a lead Bathurst 1000 driver.

“He’s in a very unique situation, because he’s the A driver as well,” Cook told Auto Action.

“A lot of people do double duties, it’s not too bad as the B driver but because he’s the A driver, there’s

some of our sessions that cross over into each other.

“He literally has 15 minutes to get out of the car from a Super2 race.

“Unfortunately, if he’s on the podium, he’s going to have to miss the podium, he’s going to have to miss the media stuff, and he’s going to have to fly straight down into the Supercheap Auto car to do the Top 10 Shootout.”

Chaz Mostert is another example of a lead Supercar driver taking part in two categories, but he will only compete in one TCR Australia Series race before committing to his Supercars Championship role with Walkinshaw Andretti United.

Feeney, on the other hand, will participate fully in both Super2 and the Bathurst 1000.

This is no surprise, as he is 129

points clear at the top of the Super2 standings and could secure season honours by the end of the first of two races.

However, Cook said that the junior would have to be wary when taking on such a heavy load at the mountain.

“He’s very comfortable in his Super2 car but he’s just going to have to be very cautious when he jumps in the main series car, because the balance is a little bit different,” Cook said.

“It’s not quite the same, so he’s just going to have to be sensible and take it easy, small steps at a time for the main series.

“We are focusing on Super2, we need to really put our best foot forward and try and win that.

Cook also explained that winning Super2 would take on particular

DOOHAN PROMOTED TO F2 EARLY JACK DOOHAN has received an early promotion to FIA Formula 2 taking on the final two rounds of the 2021 championship.

The Australian will join MP Motorsport for the Saudi Arabian and Abu Dhabi rounds after strong Formula 3 campaign that saw Doohan finish second in the points.

Doohan will join Clement Novalak in the Dutch squad replacing Richard Verschoor, having already indicated he plans to step up the F2 full-time in 2022.

“It is an amazing opportunity. I cannot thank the team enough, as well my family and everyone who

has enabled me to do these last two rounds,” said Doohan.

“This opportunity will give me a little bit of a foundation and a base before I start my prep for next year.

I am super excited. I don’t have any real goals as I haven’t been in anything higher than a Formula 3 car before. Free Practice will be my first time in something higher than Formula 3, so my expectations are very minimal.

“My goal is to get as much track time as possible and to constantly be learning. I am really excited, it is awesome to be heading to the circuits in Jeddah and Yas Marina, I

can’t wait.”

The Australian has been linked with a seat, replacing the Formula 1 bound Guanyu Zhou at UNIVirtuosi for the 2022 season Doohan won’t be the only driver making the step up.

Fellow F3 driver Logan Sargeant who will also make his F2 debut.

The Williams Junior Driver will move across HWA Racelab replacing Jake Hughes for the round at Jeddah.

Rhys Vandersyde

significance for both Feeney and Triple Eight.

“It would be amazing if we could tie that up, it’d be great for T8 since we haven’t won Super2,” Cook said.

“It’d be amazing for the business and the company.

“It would also be good for Broc because that means he’s won Super3 and Super2.

“Then he gets the golden ticket to drive Jamie’s car next year, it’s been a big couple of years for him.

“He’s put the runs on the board and he deserves it, it’s very exciting.”

Heading into 2022 Feeney will graduate from Super2 to drive in the Supercars Championship full-time, taking over from the retiring Jamie Whincup who steps into the role of Team Principal at Triple Eight. Josh Nevett

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AROCCA: FUEL INNOVATIONS KEEP MOTORSPORT FUTURE SAFE MOTORSPORT AUSTRALIA CEO Eugene Arocca believes innovations in biofuels and internal combustion technology will protect traditional motorsport in times of electrification.

Electric vehicle racing has grown in recent times, with the introduction of Formula E and Extreme E among others.

In addition to the electric racing that is already established, recently Porsche revealed its Mission R concept, a 1000bhp all-electric machine that could be set for the German marque’s one-make competitions across the globe in a matter of years.

However, Arocca believed that both fuelpowered and electric-powered competitions could co-exist well into the future.

“I’m not convinced that electric vehicles, for example, will be the future of motorsport,” Arocca told Auto Action.

“I believe that there will be opportunities to develop biofuels and alternatives to the form of combustion that we currently use in road cars, and in motorsport.

“That will develop over the next five or 10 years.

“As far as I’m concerned, we’ll still be seeing geared vehicles moving around tracks in competition, that will not necessarily be electric vehicles.”

Formula 1 is leading the way in motorsport innovation, targeting a carbon neutral power unit powered by a drop-in sustainable fuel for its open wheelers in 2025.

The new engine will be the second generation of hybrid power in F1, the first iteration introduced in 2014.

While Arocca believed the history of motorsport would be preserved by such

advances, he also embraced the momentum behind electric technology heading into a netzero, sustainable future.

“We are also in the electric vehicle space, and we’ve started producing regulations for electric racing,” Arocca said.

“We’ve already been approached by a couple of categories that want to be created in the electric racing space.

“We think that we’ve got a really important role to play in the climate change debate with some exciting projects that we’re looking at over the next 18 months to not only show that the sport is responsible but can also set an agenda on climate change.

“In 30 years or 40 years, there will probably be more electric vehicles racing than non-electric vehicles.”

Two key factors were working in favour of motorsport as we know it, according to the Motorsport Australia boss: the power of tradition and the overestimated impact of combustion motorsport on the environment.

“We’re not a big user of what you might call carbon, in the scheme of things,” Arocca said.

“A full year of Supercars will probably not use up anywhere near the same amount of fuel as a Melbourne to Sydney

airline run for a month.

“I do think at the heart of motorsport will be what we’ve traditionally known to be our vehicles, we’ll find alternatives to not just having electric vehicles race.

“I believe that motorsport will find a way to preserve a traditional form of racing with alternative fuels, and alternative forms of resources.” Josh Nevett

NEW NEDS LIVERY FOR BATHURST KELLY GROVE Racing drivers Andre Heimgartner and Matt Campbell will run a new livery at the Bathurst 1000 this weekend.

The #7 Ford Mustang pairing will be backed by Ned Whisky, however with a fresh paint scheme promoting a limitededition bottle.

In fact, Kelly Racing has contributed to the new whiskey, assisting the brand in the maturation process.

By applying a recording of one Heimgartner’s laps at Mount Panorama from the opening round of the season, NED Whisky utilised the V8 rumble to-sound age it.

Blasting the sound of the V8 powered Mustang for over 50 hours per week has resulted in one of the most unique whiskies ever made.

Only 1743 ‘Sounds of Bathurst’ bottles have been produced, with two designs developed for the inspired

by Kelly Grove’s race cars

#7 and #26 and both are on sale now.

“We knew that sound would accelerate aging, there have been numerous experiments around the world with music,” said the head distiller at Ned Whisky, Sebastian Reaburn.

“We were not expecting the intensity of the engine noise to drive so much change, so fast.

The intense, full spectrum of sound waves from the Kelly Grove Mustang GT engine is the reason! This is the best whisky we

have made so far.”

Heimgartner felt that the concept was a great idea and is happy to have had a key part in it.

“I remember talking about this earlier in the year and thinking what a cool and unique concept,” he said.

“I’m proud to have played a small

part in creating something so iconic and special and being able to share it with everyone is even more remarkable.”

The other Kelly Grove Racing car will also support a new livery this weekend. Dan McCarthy

LATEST NEWS

S5000 BREAKS TWO MINUTE BARRIER AS PREDICTED by S5000 category development manager Chris Lambden the S5000 machines managed to lap under the two-minute barrier.

Garry Rogers Motorsport driver Aaron Cameron set a 1m 59.934s time, the only driver to sneak under the in qualifying.

As reported previously the S5000 machines are running less power this weekend as Motorsport Australia rules state that all racing cars must

not exceed a power to weight limit of two kilograms per horsepower on FIA Grade 3 circuits.

Despite the 85-horsepower deficit reigning Australian Drivers’ champion Joey Mawson was only 0.8s away from the number in practice yesterday on old tyres.

Throughout qualifying everyone was improving lap after lap, but looked as though they would fall just short of the time, however in the dying seconds Tasman Series leader

Cameron snuck into the one minute 59 and earnt himself pole position.

The time is the fastest official lap set by an open wheeler at the Mount Panorama (Jenson Button’s McLaren Formula 1 lap was not in an official session).

The time of Cameron’s is less than 0.7s of a second slower than the outright lap record set by Christopher Mies in an Audi R8 at Challenge Bathurst in 2018, a 1m 59.291.

In the session itself Cameron took

BARGWANNA JNR ON POLE AT BATHURST BEN BARGWANNA scored his maiden TCR Australia pole position, the fastest man at Bathurst by a substantial 0.668s.

Only Michael Caruso could qualify within a second of him, while a third Garry Rogers Motorsport machine of James Moffat rounded out the top three.

Aaron Cameron finished second in all three races at Bathurst earlier in the year, however he qualified 1.26s slower than his pole sitting Peugeot teammate Bargwanna.

Chaz Mostert qualified in fifth for Wednesday afternoon’s TCR Australia race and has one hand on the trophy after his nearest title rivals faltered.

His Melbourne Performance

Centre teammate Luke King who sits second in the series suffered brake failure heading into the chase, he was lucky not to roll and got beached in the gravel trap. He qualified in ninth.

The man third in the title fight Josh Buchan finished the session in a lowly and disappointing 15th, he looked as though he was going to qualifying in the top 10, however a late red flag in the opening session stopped him from improving. Dan McCarthy

pole by 0.15s from his teammate James Golding and Mawson.

Nathan Herne qualified fourth ahead of the returning John Martin, former F1 driver Roberto Merhi who has an early session off track excursion at Turn 1.

Tim Macrow, Luis Leeds, Blake Burdie and Jordan Boys rounded out the 10 qualifiers. Japanese driver Yoshiaki Katayama is set to return tomorrow after serving his 72 hours of isolation as an international arrival.

Dan McCarthy

LATEST NEWS

HERNE: WEIGHT OF THE WORLD OFF MY SHOULDERS

BY WINNING the Trans Am 100, Nathan Herne gathered enough points to take the 2021 National Trans Am title.

He described it as a massive weight off his shoulders and he hopes it will allow him to enjoy his racing once again.

When Herne crossed the line to win he was visibly emotional, and explained how much it meant to him to achieve the goal of winning the Trans Am Series.

“I really wanted this first title, the National Trans Am Series, it means more to me than what most people see on the surface, and it’s cool to finally get it under my belt,” Herne said.

“Now I can come into these next few races refreshed.

“To get the number 1 on my door is a massive stroke of confidence, a stroke to my ego. I’ll hop in the S5000 and the rest of these races with a whole new confidence, “I’ve got the weight of the world off my shoulders now, and I can go back to enjoying racing again.”

Herne explained that he has visited a psychologist since the last round at

Sydney Motorsport Park less than a fortnight ago.

“I had to go to a sports psychologist, really look at myself and what I’m doing,” he expressed.

“I worked really hard during the (COVID-19 enforced) off-season, packed up my whole life to focus just on racing and I still wasn’t getting the results that I wanted.

“It’s taken its toll on me, coming into this weekend I was very nervous and very under pressure, but now it’s off my back, I’m not dragging any trains anymore.

“I can get back to enjoying it and doing it how I did at the start of this year, I reckon once I do that, it’ll be on again.”

Early in the season Herne was challenged by Aaron Seton and Owen Kelly, and more recently from Tim Brook, however it is the Queenslander who has come out on top.

Despite taking victory in the race by a comfortable margin 6.1s it was not all smooth sailing.

“I knew that all I had to do to get the series was to finish,” he said.

“That was my main goal going out

there, when I got in front of Brook I saw them start to dice and I was like this is my time, I took off as hard as I could.

“The car was screaming, alarm bells going off at me, oil temps and all that, the last couple of laps I was praying to God hoping it would hang on.

“Every corner was a sigh and a weight off my shoulders. I’ve been over pressurizing myself for the last couple of rounds.

“The hardest thing about this year has really been me to myself. I still didn’t get a pole position which is one of the goals I set for myself this year.

A lot of time it came down to me as a driver, I’ve got a lot to work on still.

“I’m looking forward to next year’s battle with Brook, it’ll be good to have the confidence with the number 1 on the side or the car, it’ll be a good dice next year no matter what.”

Dan McCarthy

LATEST NEWS

SVG AND TANDER TO RUN CAR 888 SHANE VAN Gisbergen and Garth Tander will run Triple Eight Engineering’s legendary #888 at this year’s Bathurst 1000 rather than the number #97.

The pair will run the number to pay homage to outgoing team principal Roland Dane, as seven-time Supercars Champion and current driver Jamie Whincup will take over that role from 2022.

Triple Eight Race Engineering made its debut in 2003, and has campaigned the #888 at every ‘Great Race’ between 2004 and 2020.

That tradition appeared set to end this year as the team honoured the retiring Whincup by allowing him to race with his traditional #88 this weekend.

Van Gisbergen and Tander, who combined to win the 2020 race, appeared set to carry on with the #97.

However, a last-minute change ensures the #888 will be on the Great Race grid, with van Gisbergen and Tander behind the wheel rather than Whincup and Lowndes.

The number was used throughout Craig Lowndes’ full-time career at

Triple Eight Race Engineering.

Car #888 is the second most successful number in ‘Great Race’ history with six wins, only behind #1.

Whincup and Lowndes won three straight Bathurst 1000s between 2006 and 2008 with the #888 on the window.

Lowndes then had further success adding an additional wins with Mark Skaife in 2010 and Steven Richards twice, in 2015 and then again in 2018.

This year Van Gisbergen won his second Supercars Championship, romping to the title after claiming 14

of the 30 races so far in the #97 ZB Commodore.

In fact, the move to 888 will mark the first time since 2012 that van Gisbergen will race with a number other than his traditional #97.

He began racing with the number in 2013 when he moved to Tekno Autosports, and retained it when he shifted to Triple Eight for 2016.

Van Gisbergen won his first drivers’ title with #97 that year; it was the first instance that a car with the #97 had won an ATCC/Supercars title. Dan McCarthy

VAN GISBERGEN AND TANDER RECEIVE CHAMPIONS’ PLAQUE

THE REIGNING Bathurst 1000 winners Shane van Gisbergen and Garth Tander have been awarded their Champions’ Plaque for winning the 2020 edition of the ‘Great Race.’

The award was handed to the Triple Eight Race Engineering drivers earlier today in front of 250 fans at a special ceremony held in Bathurst.

The plaque can be seen in the images right, van Gisbergen won his first 1000 last year, while for Tander it was his fourth.

Van Gisbergen and Tander expressed that now SVG wrapped up the 2021 Supercars Championship, they have no worries and can put 100% focus into wrapping up the title.

“If the championship was still up for grabs, we probably would have had to have been quite calculated with what we did, but now we can just go all out for the race,” van Gisbergen said.

“Thankfully Sunday’s not looking too hot, it’ll be tough if it is, but I thought it was gonna be a lot hotter for November, we’ve gotten a bit lucky I think.”

The now two-time champion is pleased to see fans return in bulk to the Mount Panorama Circuit after the COVID-19 pandemic saw a severe crowd cap last year.

“It’s pretty awesome having all the fans

back and having the atmosphere at the track it’s gonna be really cool, can’t wait for that again but just focus on the race,” he said.

Tander is pleased that van Gisbergen has already secured the title.

He knows that if they keep out of trouble in the first 100 laps they will be in contention come the final stint.

“It’s actually easier now that he’s won the championship, because we don’t have to worry about the championship over the course of the Bathurst weekend,” Tander said.

“Now it’s just come to Bathurst, race 1000k’s as fast as we can, put our best foot forward and if we have a good day and we do everything well, we should be amongst it.”

While eyes will be on van Gisbergen and Tander, many eyes will also be on there teammate in

the sister #88 car, the seventime champion will retire from full-time competition come Sunday night. Dan McCarthy

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PIASTRI SIGNED AS ALPINE F1 RESERVE AUSTRALIAN OSCAR Piastri has signed as the Alpine Formula 1 team reserve driver for 2022, the FIA Formula 2 Championship leader moving one step closer to his dream of racing in Formula 1.

He was signed into the Alpine Academy at the end of 2019 when he won the Formula Renault Eurocup title, since then he has won the FIA Formula 3 Championship and now leads the second tier F2 series with two rounds to go.

After conducting his fourth F1 test at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya last week, Piastri has signed as the official Alpine reserve driver for the 2022 season.

Alpine have stated that Piastri will have an extensive testing program, continuing his preparation and training for a future F1 race seat.

Piastri expressed that he feels ready for the next stage of his career, an F1 position.

“I’m super excited to be joining the Alpine F1 Team as Reserve Driver,” Piastri said.

“I’m looking forward to being much more involved with the team

18 AutoAction

and contributing to its intended success next season.

“The Reserve Driver role is the next step towards my aim for a race seat in 2023, which is very exciting.

“I’ve proved myself in the junior formulas over the last couple of years and feel like I’m ready for Formula 1 now along with the trackside experience at race weekends, we will put together a substantial test program in order to keep developing myself to grow even more prepared for a race seat.”

Piastri’s name was thrown around for the final Alfa Romeo F1 seat next year, but that has gone to his Formula 2 Championship rival Guanyu Zhou.

Piastri is grateful to Alpine for offering him the job as Alpine F1’s official reserve driver.

“I’m very thankful to Alpine for their support,” he said. “We’ve enjoyed two very successful seasons together in the Academy and I’m grateful for the faith they’ve put in me for this next step with an eye on a bigger future.

“My focus now is finishing the

Formula 2 Championship in the best possible way with Prema and I’m looking forward to being back in the car and pushing hard on track.”

Piastri has turned heads in the last 12 months, Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi has not just been impressed by his speed but his maturity.

“At Enstone Oscar has been a real asset to the team as he has aided the simulator and testing programme and I am certain he will continue to do so in his new role,” Rossi said.

“The next step will be to consistently attend Grands Prix to fully integrate with the race team, learn what is expected of an F1 driver and be ready for when the opportunity comes.

“In addition, we look forward to having Oscar’s input and expertise in driving the team forwards next year.

“Oscar’s graduation highlights the success of our Alpine Academy and underlines its strength as one of the best young driver programmes in motorsport.

We look forward to seeing our young talents continue to blossom through the years to come.”

Rossi believes that Piastri has incredible natural talent and has been proud to see him grow in the last two years.

“Oscar’s natural talent is clear to see, so we’re very proud and privileged to have him as part of our team as our Reserve Driver from next year,” Rossi said.

“Not only does Oscar have the on-track skills, as demonstrated over the last couple of years in the junior categories, but also the maturity and composure that makes him really stand out from the rest.”

Four-time Formula 1 Champion Alain Prost also threw his backing behind Australian rising star Oscar Piastri, declaring he has high expectations for the newly signed Alpine F1 reserve driver.

Prost, who currently serves as non-executive Director of the Alpine F1 team, was full of praise for Piastri and his rapid rise through the open wheel ranks.

“I have followed Oscar (Piastri) for many years and winning three times in a row is exceptional, there are not many drivers that can do that,” Prost told the ‘In the Fast Lane’ podcast.

“We have a lot of expectation for Oscar in the future. I really like him very much.”

The 66-year-old also explained that mentality was key to the success of young drivers in F1 and spoke highly of Piastri in that regard in the same vein as Rossi.

“You absolutely cannot predict what a driver can do in Formula 1, being a victim of the pressure,” Prost said.

“We have seen in the past that sometimes it cannot work because some drivers when they arrive in Formula 1 lose a little bit because they must feel too much pressure.

“I think we should avoid this kind of this kind of problem, he is very strong in his head while not old at all.

“In the paddock I have said hello to Oscar, this morning I’m going to talk to him… he is relaxed, he is good.

“You can feel it is his life, he knows what he’s doing, he knows what he has to do in the future.”

Piastri will be looking to complete his triple triumph in the final two rounds of F2, scheduled for Jeddah Street Circuit and Yas Marina Circuit in December.

Should he manage to claim the title, Piastri will join Charles Leclerc and George Russell as drivers to have won F3 and F2 in consecutive years.

Piastri’s best opportunity to make the step up to the pinnacle of motorsport, F1, could come in 2023 as current Alpine driver Fernando Alonso will be at the end of his contract which was recently extended by one year to the end of the 2022 season.

Dan McCarthy and Josh Nevett

with Mark Fogarty

THE FOGES FILE AA’s proud pundit rejoices in the return of the Tasman Cup and defends F1 ENTHUSIASTS OF a certain age have longed for the return of the Tasman Cup championship.

In our youth, it was the pinnacle. A summer series in New Zealand and Australia that was virtually a southern Formula 1 title.

From 1964-69, the Tasman Cup saw F1 stars race here for a crown second only to the world championship, which back then was decided over as few as eight Grands Prix.

Jack Brabham, Jim Clark, Bruce Look at the line-up for the Warwick Farm Tasman Series round in 1968 – front row Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Chris Amon; second row Piers Courage, Denny Hulme; third row Frank Gardner ...

McLaren, Denny Hulme, Graham Hill, Chris Amon, Piers Courage and Mostert is one, sothe recent Hungarian Grand Prix. It had Jochen Rindt were just some of the crown. But fun in the sun was the main in Jan/Feb, just notChaz cojoined under too is Brodie Kostecki, there crowd big names who spent January and appeal. the Tasman Cup banner – although, everything: drama, suspense, fierce strong signs from Cam flowing February Down Under.

I missed the semi-F1 glory years, but sponsored by theare same tobacco racing and an unexpected winner.

Waters and Nick Percat, while intoLewis SMP Hamilton, alone on In the later years, their 2.5-litre I’d read about them. I became involved company.

There was bothpiece Will Brown on intermediate Saturday tyres as the variants were test cars for the coming in the F5000 era, when Matich, I wrote a comment in The and Anton the grid on De’75 Pasquale notflooded - from three-litre F1 season.

Graham McRae and Peter Gethin were Australian after the series say they willrest intoearly the pit lane to change back down. transThe Tasman series showcased the the big stars. denouncing the uncomfortable to slicks o’clock ... neveruntil seenthe that before!

But watch van GisbergenWith thelights came onfrom - showed top locals – Frank Matich, Spencer The first story I ever wrote – published Tasman alliance, earning approbation rest starting the pit lane SHANEKevin VANBartlett Gisbergen through the pack in an unholy that scramble, good racing and a stage solid Martin, and hunts Leo in Auto Action nearly 50 years ago – in NZ. But I calledcutting the split – and was it set the like a great white shark. and looked and cost thenot Bulls a 1-2 whenand it’s obvious supporting program is still Geoghegan, among others – against wascomfortable about McRae and histhat ’72 had Tasman popular I covered the ’76that he has for a thriller – and it was.

Once blood in the quick. Cup-winning Leda GM1. a week earlier and led to an seriesmost runners bluffed. Or Hamilton’s good bait for fans. the besthe in smells the world. standalone across The Ditch. fightback was water is unstoppable. fin appeared .. in-house match intimidated.

Yet of there was almost zero Evenhe when F5000 took over from Then theI paid tribute to. McRae on our webbumpingThe newthat Tasman Cup will evoke a confirmation his brilliance.

Throughthe season 2021 And thensite it started to his sprinkle did no-one just while There have aalways promotion for the 1970-75, Tasman Cup had following recent death.

In the any favours, storied history ushering new been Out front, Ocon in in hisSydney underdone he has shown his hunting WatersTasman trying days,stepped aside when the #97 drivers who are special inAlpine held Supercars, and that’s immense international prestige. . . . Watching early F5000 he was the generation of open-wheel stars. off Sebastien Vettel,one ability many end-of-season times, but his Oz-only to fend off Will was successive appeared on his back andorvan Gisbergen is of the things that needs This year’s man toBrown beat, winning titles Oncebumper it extendstraffic, to seven more maximising hisbig Aston Martin. performance through so too was - and then joinedevents in for the the latest. change as RACE revived Tasman series the for S5000, entertaining, from and ’71-73. in NZ andjust Australia, it will Behind to them, battles galore takes – first of theby 250-kilometre push at the front.be truly worthy of the Looking ahead the category. endorsed Motorsports mini AustraliaChaz and Mostert’s In 1975, my into first year as feast a Tasman Cupto 2022,Fernandocontrol Alonsooffending off Hamilton enduros Motorsport the leading battle pack, but I reported As the the Supercars field it will be interesting and proved the Nothing on champion radio, nothing NZ, won’tatbeSydney the same, but it will thrill professional journalist, championship title. ex-world Park was extraordinary. anyone Tasman at SMP could have at Sandown reassembles for The Big One entertaining to see who isSpaniardon television news, no diehards. title shoot-out stillthe has what it takes.

Yes,future it wasprospect damp and heard the ‘Dum, Dum, Dum, Bathurst, the prospect prepared to fight as The Shark around theMix general The of he fourwas rounds between Warwick Brown, at Johnnie There isbuzz a lesson here. up the WHY F1 IS INTOXICATING onNZ super-soft Dunlop at Dum, Dumpy-dum’ theGraeme Lawrence of another sharkAT attack goes on the attack againorder in and population. in and another fourtyres in Australia Walker and of Kiwi outsiders have a chance.

HIS ispeak as president of the theJanuary/February, end. the obvious. back-to-back titles.

Anyone who at in mimicking Jaws soundtrack (who wonabove the crossover 1970 series in Same could be said forlooks Supercars.

FIA, the late Max search Mosleyof observed But he wasisalso double- for frantic commentary and roar Not only that, but oldfield pictures car the original, intoxicating a 2.5-litre Ferrari Dino).

When the gets of outtouring of order, thatvan Formula 1’s fascination was stacked through thenew. first Big-boreof has aunderpinned fellow shark by - suspense.

THE FINAL race weekend way to the enthusiasts old and V8the V8s.

John Goss won the raceGisbergen after anythingweekends, can happen.

Weback watch roundwheelers of pitstops andby lost of enthusing about crash, Garth Tander - alongside at Sydney through open driven local and InsteadWalker’s fence-ripping with F1 races1970s out of and duty,even occasionally Mosley’shim. view was that, likeMotorsport the rarity Park track positionaces andracing momentum the battle at the front, the clinching And what they provedofingoals 2020 in that that Supercars can international for an historic Brown’s sixth place rewardedthe byhalcyon epics. days when soccer,proved the anticipation of through a sub-optimal crewbe should have formula foror great still be a major sporting ‘ringmaster’ Tony title – what’s not to like?middle television would the final Tasmanthere title. is no proven For all its predictability, theCochrane prospect upset results battles in F1 kept stint on hard-compound the shark– and perhaps a shark repellentfans thatinterested. works. drawcard. led keeps the Supercars circus, can If you’re under 40, you may havebeen no sounding I also reported helped of an upset F1 fans enthralled.

Dunlops.of how important the Tasman alarm. hasten – the demise of the Looking down There washave a bigger thata crowds were bigger concept Tasman up and He Every sosee often, race is riveting. wasthe right. F1 followers for crowd While SvG battled, Cam The Shark sixth, Supercars are endured very for the Saturday theone ‘good old days’.

Foxtel Cup was.

Cupwas championship in 1976, when thefield, there Hungaryinwas of those rare thrillers decades dominations andnight race Waters showing firstpre-eminent. and thenF5000 fifth, and then series in drivers who are prepared than any - perhaps of thebizarre doesstart a great job for finish. television, When I- was a kid,the it was summer wasfew split into the to uplifting boring races for the prospect of a all? - from realheroes speedon from a Tickford forStuyvesant the win. (NZ) andtoRothmans battle wheel-to-wheel previous top You the F1 holiday here, racing contention – Peter F1nothing is worthshould watching. once-every-so-often thriller.three weekends. It is whybut Mustang in the month after or door-to-door - with Heavy rain onwas Sunday just never excitement and enjoyment of almost seriously – for a of prestigious Jamie Whincup, (Aus) Internationals.

Still seven races know.

Onevan of those redeeming races November - got to the front making a ‘Captain’s Call’ Gisbergen. washed things out, but the a weekend at the races.

SHARK ATTACK IN SUPERCARS Why you should never get between SvG and the chequered flag.

with Paul Gover

THE PG PERSPECTIVE

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VALE: SIR FRANK WILLIAMS LEGENDARY F1 team boss Sir Frank Williams has passed away at the age of 79.

A big fan of motor racing and motor cars in general since he was a school boy, Williams eventually became a racing driver, albeit an unsuccessful one, in Formula 3.

His early attempts of running his own F1 teams, starting in 1973, were also unsuccessful. Then, in 1977, he formed Williams Grand Prix Engineering with the gruff and brilliant Patrick Head as the technical director. They hired the straight-talking Aussie Alan Jones, and they were off to the races in 1978 with the sturdy Williams FW06.

In 1979, Williams and Head presented the ‘ground effect’ FW07 and Clay Regazzoni joined and delivered the team its first victory, appropriately, at the Williams’ home race at Silverstone.

Jones then stepped up and won win in Germany, Austria, Holland and Canada.

In 1980 Jones and the FW07 won five Grands Prix, to become the world champion.

Williams would go on to win the Drivers’ World Championship with Keke Rosberg, Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve.

The legendary Ayrton Senna joined the team in 1994, but was tragically killed in an accident in the San Marino Grand Prix, the third race of the season.

In all, Williams racked up 128 pole positions, 114 victories, nine constructors’ championships and seven drivers’ championships.

But the last victory was back in 2012 and the team was heading to lean times. Williams had been in a wheelchair ever since a road accident prior to the 1986 season. Head was slowly backing away from the team.

Money was in short supply.

In 2012, Williams stepped down from the Williams board of directors. His daughter Claire became deputy team principal.

Unable to keep funding a private team, the Williams family sold it to Dorilton Capital in September 2020.

20 AutoAction

A statement from the team said: “Sir Frank was a true legend and icon of our sport. His passing truly marks the end of an era for our team and for the sport of F1. He was one of a kind and a true pioneer. Despite considerable adversity in his life, he led our team to 16 world championships, making us one of the most successful teams in the history of the sport.

His values including integrity, teamwork and a fierce independence and determination, remain the core ethos of our team and are his legacy, as is the Williams family name under which we proudly race.”

The British Racing Drivers’ Club said in a statement: “We are deeply saddened to learn of the death of BRDC Vice President Sir Frank Williams CBE. We will be forever thankful for Sir Frank’s passion & friendship. On behalf of the Club we send our thoughts to Sir Frank’s family & friends in this sad time. Rest in peace Sir Frank.”

Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said in a statement: “This morning Claire Williams called to inform me of the very sad news that her beloved father, Sir Frank Williams had passed away. He was a true giant of our sport that overcame the most difficult of challenges in life and battled every day to win on and off the track.

“We have lost a much loved and respected member of the F1 family and he will be hugely missed.

His incredible achievements and personality will be etched on our sport forever. My thoughts are with all the Williams family and their friends at this sad time.”

Lewis Hamilton said: “Sir Frank Williams was one of the kindest people I had the pleasure of meeting in this sport, always had time for me and always without judgement. I feel so honoured to have called him a friend.

What he achieved in this sport is something truly special.

“Until his last days I know he remained a racer and a fighter at heart.

I have utmost respect and love for this man, and his legacy will live on-on the other side. My thoughts and prayers

are with the Williams family.”

FIA President Jean Todt said: “Very sad news. Sir Frank Williams leaves a lasting impression on the history of F1. He was a pioneer, an exceptional personality & an exemplary man. On behalf of the entire FIA Community, our thoughts are with his family, friends & Williams Racing. Rest in peace, my friend.”

Williams driver George Russell said: “Today, we say goodbye to the man who defined our team. Sir Frank was such a genuinely wonderful

human being and I’ll always remember the laughs we shared.

He was more than a boss, he was a mentor and a friend to everybody who joined the Williams Racing family and so many others.

“It has been a genuine honour racing for him and being a small part of the incredible legacy he leaves behind, a legacy that will forever live on in the heart and soul of this team. Rest in peace, Sir Frank. Thank you for everything.” Dan Knutson

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DANIEL RICCIARDO was on a roll, but then things swung downward.

It seemed like the Aussie had finally adapted his driving style to suit the McLaren MCL35M, and that he had tailored the McLaren MCL35M to suit his driving style.

He won in Italy, finished fourth in Russia and fifth in the U.S. But the most recent three races have yielded disappointing results: two 12th places and an DNF. Nothing went right for Ricciardo in Qatar – the tail-end of a gruelling schedule of back-to-back races in Mexico, Brazil and Qatar.

He qualified 14th and finished 12th in the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix. His McLaren teammate Lando Norris started fourth and would have finished fourth but ended up ninth after having to pit because his left front tyre was deflating.

Ricciardo had difficulty getting to grips with the 5.380km Losail circuit as some of its 16 turns are the type of long- and mediumspeed corners where the

with Dan Knutson

F1 INSIDER

McLaren is challenged the most.

“That is where the McLaren style is the one and only style to get it through those corners quickly,” Ricciardo said. “Lando is definitely doing a better job in those corners. I am still not quite nailing it. It is the way you enter the corner and combine the braking with the turn in. I’m trying to get the car to do something and it still turns, but it does not get through the corner as quick.

It is just half a tenth, but half a tenth of a second in these long corners adds up to three or four tenths.

So it is really just that. It is definitely a weakness of the car, but ultimately it is still the weakness of me not being able to get the car working well in limited areas.”

“I can see the difference in why I am running into

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some of these problems,” he added. “If it was easy I would’ve perfected it already.

Lando is driving very well. He has proved to everyone this year that he is top-level. But also having the three years with the same car has helped him dial that in.

“I definitely think I’ve improved my style from the beginning of the year. But there’s clearly yet another step to make in and some of the sorts of tracks where he is more on top of it than I am.”

Mired in traffic at the start of the race in Qatar, Ricciardo braked too early for Turn 1.

He then spent much of the race saving fuel not because he was low on fuel but rather because a systems error stated that was happening.

“I will look at some of the laps where I didn’t have to save fuel and see how the pace was,” he said.

“But unfortunately since Austin it has been a bit of a downward spiral. I don’t want to be too negative with that. This weekend I don’t think I sucked, I just missed half a tenth of a second in some of these key corners, and of course that adds up.

Gone are the days where I am seven or eight tenths off.

I have moved on from there but there’s clearly some work still to do on some circuit specific ones.”

Ricciardo has just two more races to get to grips with the McLaren MCL35M. Just what the 27-turn 6.175km Jeddah Corniche Circuit, home of the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, will serve up to Ricciardo and the other 19 drivers remains to be seen. And some changes have been made to the Yas Marina Circuit, home of the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Ideally for Ricciardo, he will end his first season with McLaren on an upward spiral.

And then it is on to 2022 and the radically different cars and, hopefully, a McLaren MCL36M that Ricciardo can meld with.

Massive end of season yearbook! PG’s post championship interview with Shane van Gisbergen, Full Bathurst 1000 event coverage, Formula 1 wash-up, Josh’s Bathurst Rookie experience, TCR and Tasman Series reviews, Island Magic report, Frank Williams tribute, Motorsport’s economic value.

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with Dan Knutson

ANTONIO GIOVINAZZI will swap Formula 1 for Formula E in 2022, signing for Dragon Penske after losing his Alfa Romeo seat to Guanyu Zhou. The Italian driver will leave Alfa Romeo at the end of the 2021 after three seasons with the F1 team. Dragon Penske has been a mainstay of Formula E since its inception.

Giovinazzi joins Sergio Sette Camara, who will drive the #7 Penske EV-5 in the all-electric World Championship next year. JN

FOUR-TIME Formula 1 Champion and current non-executive Director of Alpine F1 team Alain Prost has thrown his backing behind Australian rising star Oscar Piastri. “I have followed Oscar (Piastri) for many years and winning three times in a row is exceptional, there are not many drivers that can do that,” Prost told the ‘In the Fast Lane’ podcast. “We have a lot of expectation for Oscar in the future. I really like him very much.” JN

PIRELLI FORMULA 1 Boss Mario Isola has defended the quality of the brand’s tyres after three drivers suffered punctures in the first ever Qatar Grand Prix. Isola believed teams took too much of a risk when asked if the tyre stints were overly ambitious. “For sure, we had a few teams trying a one-stop strategy,” Isola said. “The reason why we predicted a two-stop strategy was because of the data on tyre wear, the wear on the front-left was quite high.” JN

FORMULA 1 will continue to race at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya until 2026, after renewing its deal to keep the Spanish Grand Prix at the venue. The circuit is also set to receive upgrades ahead of the 2022 race, which is scheduled for May 22 next year. “The teams and drivers always look forward to racing at the circuit and visiting Barcelona,” F1 President and CEO Stefano Domenicali said. JN

ROBERT SHWARTZMAN will take part in the Abu Dhabi Young Driver Test behind the wheel of a Haas machine at the end of the Formula 1 season. The 22-year-old is the 2019 Formula 3 Champion and has won two Formula 2 races this season. Haas Team Principal Guenther Steiner was supportive of the Russian driver.

“We’re looking forward to testing with Robert at Yas Marina in December. He’s obviously highly rated by Ferrari,” he said. JN

22 AutoAction

THE GLOVES ARE OFF AS THE Formula 1 season winds down it has become a bitter gloves-off dispute between Red Bull and Mercedes as they fight for the drivers’ and constructors’ world championships. And at the forefront of it all are the respective team principals Christian Horner and Toto Wolff.

“The fight happens on all levels: political, sporting, technical,” Wolff said. “That’s clear.

I think that whoever wins this championship at the end of the year merits the win, because it was on a very high level.”

While the two men respect the on track successes of the rival team, they don’t like

each other.

“I think that from my perspective it’s a tough competition and that’s Formula 1,” Horner said. “You don’t have to be best mates with your opponents. How can you be? I think that would be dishonest in many respects, to fake a façade when you are competing against each other.”

Wolff agreed.

“I think the competition is just too high,” the Austrian said. “You cannot expect that you are going to dinner with your rival or with a rival team or with your enemy in that sporting competition, irrespective of the

personalities and the characters, nothing else. Everything else would be not normal and that’s as simple as it is. No negative emotion or positive emotion. The emotions are pretty neutral.”

Horner said he and Wolff are very different characters.

“We operate in different ways,” he said.

“Am I going to be spending Christmas with Toto? Probably not.”

Wolff’s response was a sarcastic: “Shame!”

Relationships and respect are two different things, according to Horner.

MAKING HISTORY HISTORY WILL be made next year when Guanyu Zhou becomes the first ever Chinese driver to compete in Formula 1. He will race for Alfa Romeo alongside Valtteri Bottas who will move over from the Mercedes team.

Zhou, 22, is a multiple race winner in the FIA F2 Championship this season.

“I dreamt from a young age of climbing as high as I can in a sport that I am passionate about and now the dream has come true,” he said. “It is a privilege for me to start my Formula 1 racing career with an iconic team, a team that has introduced so much young talent into Formula 1 in the past. Now the dream is reality. I feel well prepared for the immense challenge of Formula 1.

“To be the first ever Chinese driver in Formula 1 is a breakthrough for Chinese motorsport history.

I know a lot of hopes will be resting on me and, as ever, I will take this as motivation to become better and achieve more.”

F1 is trying to expand its footprint in the lucrative Chinese market. The country has hosted a grand prix since 2004, but the race was not held in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.

“The news that Zhou Guanyu will be in F1 next season is fantastic for the sport and the millions of passionate Chinese fans that now have a home hero to

cheer all year long,” F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said.

“The pyramid in F2 is working and promoting talent to the top flight of motorsport. Zhou is an incredible talent, who will be a fantastic addition to the amazing grid we have, and he will entertain and keep all our Chinese fans excited in 2022.”

Zhou replaces Antonio Giovinazzi, who loses his F1 seat after three years as a full-time driver for Alfa Romeo. Zhou is currently in second place in the standings in F2 and is ready to mount a challenge for the title in the final two events of the season in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi.

“It is a pleasure to welcome Guanyu Zhou to Alfa Romeo Racing,” team principal Frédéric Vasseur said. “He is a very talented driver, as his results in F2 have shown, and we are looking forward to helping his talent flourish even more in F1. We are proud of our line-up for 2022, and we are confident Zhou will form a very successful partnership with Valtteri. We are also looking forward to welcoming all the new Chinese fans who will join the team.”

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT JUST WHERE are the track limits? And what is permitted when two drivers are fighting for position?

The drivers say it is not clear, but the FIA Formula 1 race director, Aussie Michael Masi, insists that the racing rules are clear.

There was controversy during and after the Brazilian Grand Prix when Max Verstappen pushed Lewis Hamilton wide at Turn 4 on lap 48. Both cars went off and then back onto the track. The stewards decided not to punish Verstappen. The next weekend, in Qatar, Mercedes asked for the incident to be reviewed. But the stewards again ruled that there was not enough new evidence to prove that Verstappen deliberately turned into Hamilton.

Masi and FIA officials met with the drivers in Qatar.

Is it clear now what the rules are for overtaking?

“No, it’s not clear” Hamilton said. “Every driver, except for Max, was asking just

for clarity, most drivers were asking for clarity, but it wasn’t very clear. It’s still not clear what the limits of the track are. It’s clearly not the white line anymore, when overtaking, but we just go for it. We just ask for consistency. So, if it’s the same as the last race in Brazil, then it should be the same for all of us in those scenarios and it’s fine.”

Verstappen said that everybody has their own way of racing and defending and overtaking.

“It’s very hard for the FIA to get everyone on the same line,” he said. “Of course, they decide but every driver has a different opinion. It was all about sharing their opinions, and then the FIA explaining their process of thought behind it.

So we came a long way, and it was a very long briefing. I think at the end it was pretty clear.”

Masi insisted that the drivers have been kept properly briefed.

“It’s been made clear to them what is expected,” he said. “I think the other parties, some of them agree, some of them disagree.

“And that’s always been the case with each and every one of them, they have agreed and disagreed all the way through.

So we’ve given them some overall guidance, but also been very clear on the fact that each and every case will be judged on its merits.”

“There is a panel of independent stewards,” Masi added. “Contrary to what many people think, I’m not the one sitting there as judge and jury.

“We have a look; we have a panel of stewards that review each and every incident.

And then as we saw last weekend, they determine if it’s worthy of an investigation.

If they do, it gets investigated, and then determined if there’s a breach or not a breach.”

“Of course there is respect for everything that Mercedes have done and everything that Lewis Hamilton has done, but I don’t need to go to dinner with Toto. I don’t need to kiss his arse, or anything like that.

There are a few other team principals that might but from my perspective it’s a competition.

“It’s the first time in seven years they have been challenged, so that intensifies it and I think the sport is a big winner out of this. I just hope that we have a hard and fair fight between now and the end of the season.”

FLEXI WING DEBATE IS THE rear wing of the Mercedes flexing illegally at high speeds? The Red Bull team has its suspicions, but not to the point where it has filed an official protest.

The FIA did additional static testing on the rear wings during the Qatar Grand Prix weekend, and the Mercedes passed them.

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“The testing will be ramped up in stages, so you will be able to measure the deflection,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said. “It is great that the FIA are being proactive. They’re looking at it. Because our concern was not so much here (Qatar) where

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straight-line speed isn’t that critical, as it is potentially in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. So we are glad that they are taking this very seriously.”

Red Bull claims to have multiple photos from multiple race weekends that show scuff or score marks on the rear underside of the Mercedes wing, and that this proves that it is flexing at speed.

“The test that the FIA is introducing would expose any flexibility in that area,” Horner said. “What you have to remember is that the FIA has five people looking at this. There are thousands of engineers in this pit lane that are looking at ways of exploiting rules. That is part of the nature of Formula 1. Of course when you see something like that and you see the straight-line speed that we have seen in recent races, we just

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want to make sure that with so much at stake in the next three races there is an even playing field.”

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin insists the wing is legal.

“We’ve had a look at it and there are no score marks, so we’re not quite sure what that is,” he said. “It seems to be a bit of a story that’s not going away. From our point of view, we are absolutely happy with what we’ve got on the car. We’ve invited the FIA to look at it as much as they want, and they don’t have any issue with what we’ve got.

“We go to every circuit; we look at what the fastest wing we have is and that’s what we will bolt to the car and that’s what we will keep doing.”

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said: “Nobody would show up at the track with an illegal engine or an illegal rear wing.

The world is too transparent for that and you would be mad if you take decisions in a team with such a visibility that are illegal – 100 per cent.”

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AT THE BATHURST 1000?

Don’t forget to vote

NSW local council elections day is December 4.

If you’ve headed off to Bathurst for the weekend and haven’t yet voted, find out more about about your voting options now at elections.nsw.gov.au or call 1300 135 736. Voting is compulsory.

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2021 BATHURST 1000 GUIDE

WHO CAN BEAT GT AND THE GIZ?

By Paul Gover, News Editor

Lots of confident rivals lining up for The Great Race

THE BATHURST 1000 is the Melbourne Cup of motorsport.

Just like the horse racing classic, it is the race that intrigues the nation and it’s also the most difficult to win. In 2021, heading for the Bathurst 1000, newly crowned Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen and his teak-tough co-driver Garth Tander are the popular pick to score back-to-back wins at Mount Panorama.

But that’s not the end of the story...

This year’s race throws up a few new challenges, the race being held in December and a post-midday start time is a little different. Also, there is potential for the weather to be a bit warmer than the usual early October date, fuelling chat about the potential extra heat of the day causing problems for the drivers, teams, and the race cars.

However, the teams and cars are well equipped to handle the heat and drivers are fit as well as having cool suits, helmet and seat cooling to help them cope so it should all be ok if it is a little warmer. However, it’s not just heat that poses a threat, as we put this preview issue together there is the potential for some wet weather to hang around and any race at Bathurst in the wet is a challenge.

Many of the teams have had to spend an extended time away from their home bases

and while it’s an inconvenience the teams are experienced with that issue now after racing around the country for the past 18 months, so it shouldn’t play a big part in the outcome.

We have spoken to plenty of people up and down the pit lane as well as some very experienced former racers and observers to ask them how they see things playing out for the 2021 edition of the ‘Great Race’ and there seems to be a common theme…

“I think anyone can be beaten at Bathurst,” says Will Brown, the newest sprint-race winner in Supercars.

“We’re positive and feeling confident about Bathurst. I feel this year we (with Jack Perkins) can contend for a podium and possibly a win.

“Driving for four weekends in a row in Sydney is always going to help. And we’ve been competitive all the way through. It’s been a really positive year for us.”

David Reynolds, a past winner of the Bathurst 1000 with Luke Youlden, agrees.

“Bathurst is Bathurst. It’s a unique race and its own standalone championship,” he tells Auto Action.

“It’s the only race that can genuinely surprise you. You see people doing extraordinary things at Bathurst.

“Shane has won the championship, so now

it’s all-on.”

Even van Gisbergen admits his fantastic form through season 2021 is no guarantee in the Supercars grand final.

“Obviously we have a pretty quick car this year and the same combination as last year.

So we have as good a chance as anyone, but there are some fast cars this year,” van Gisbergen says.

He points to his teammates at the Red Bull Ampol Racing team, Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes, as the most likely challengers.

“We’re just going there purely for the race win with both cars. It will probably be more intense. But more enjoyable, I think,” he says.

Without any championship pressure, van Gisbergen has a different approach to the Mount Panorama class.

“It’s good. I’m relaxed about it now,” he says.

“Probably the most relieved guy is Garth.

He can go and do his own prep without worrying about the championship,” concluded van Gisbergen.

But the rest of the field is pumped for the chance to have a crack at the champion in an all-or-nothing shootout.

“Anyone can beat them,” Anton De Pasquale tells Auto Action.

The recent race winner, and qualifying star, has Tony D’Alberto alongside at Shell V-Power Racing and is much more comfortable than he was during his tough sprint-race effort at Bathurst earlier in the year. “A fast car wins the race,” he says bluntly.

For Chaz Mostert, a past winner who lines up with Lee Holdsworth at Walkinshaw Andretti United, there are lots of factors in play.

“There are plenty of combinations that can win this year. It’s up in the air and the weather could play a big part,” he tells Auto Action.

“I would not be surprised to see more incidents this year. The conditions with the potential heat could be brutal.

“It will be a fast pace and track position is everything. But expect more caution periods,” Mostert concluded.

Whatever happens, Bathurst has a reputation for throwing up the unexpected.

While on paper the Triple Eight Race Engineering #97 crew look like hot favourites, nothing is assured and there are plenty of other teams ready to step up.

Despite what we thought last year, 2021 marks the real end for the Holden versus Ford battle. This year Holden teams will have extra motivation to go out as the last winner for the brand. By its very nature, this year’s race is going to be another classic, enjoy!

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GOODBYE

TO THE

GOAT Jamie Whincup is lining up for his final start in the main game of Supercars racing at Mount Panorama this weekend.

He fell short of an eighth title in the Repco Supercars Championship but could easily increase his string of Bathurst victories before graduating to senior management at Triple Eight Racing Engineering in 2022. Whincup spoke to Auto Action’s Paul Gover about his career and what the future holds.

“When you’re old and on your deathbed it’s not about the results or records, or how much money you’ve got in the bank, it’s about how much effort has gone in.”

26 AutoAction

JAMIE WHINCUP is not thinking about the numbers as he prepares for his final main-game start in Supercars at the Repco Bathurst 1000.

His numbers are clearly the best of anyone who has strapped into a Supercar, or any of the drivers who have raced and won through the 60-year history of the Australian Touring Car Championship, but Whincup is much happier to focus on the effort that is reflected in his towering totals.

He is all about inputs, not outputs, and driving forward instead of looking in the rear-view mirror or wondering if he’s made the right decisions through his career.

“When you’re old and on your deathbed it’s not about the results or records, or how much money you’ve got in the bank, it’s about how much effort has gone in,” Whincup tells Auto Action.

“I’m not counting down. I’ll go and enjoy Bathurst. We don’t have to worry about the championship or anything now.”

This year’s titles are a lock - again - for Whincup’s Red Bull Ampol Racing Team and his team-mate Shane van Gisbergen, but he says he is happy to finish his final season as a primary driver in the runner-up spot to a man who is leading a new generation of drivers into the next era of Supercars.

“It was SvG’s championship from a while ago and it was only a question of time,” he says.

“I like to think I went pretty hard, and threw everything at it. But I purely didn’t have enough race pace from my side of the garage.”

That’s a serious admission from Whincup, who has rarely admitted any weakness in the past, but he has changed through 2021. He is more considered, more presidential, more likely to comment about something beyond winning or losing and driving the car.

Part of that change is down to retirement, part is down to his move up to the Managing Director’s job at Triple Eight in 2023, and some is also down to his personal life.

Whincup has been with his partner Samantha for “about five years” and the couple are expecting a baby. Typically for the millimetre-perfect Whincup, he says the due date is “February 1, 2022”, not sometime next year, or early next year, or Feb. That’s the way he is and that’s the way he always will be.

If you step into the T8 drivers’ lounge at the track, it’s obvious where Whincup sits. His space is ordered, clean and tidy.

SvG? Not so much.

Jamie and Samatha now live in Brisbane city, after a move from one of the gated communities on the northern Gold Coast that was conveniently close to his long-term office at Sanctuary Cove and his high-tech car wash business.

“It’s closer to the workshop, and a bit of a change. So a combo of a few things,” Whincup says.

He’s 38 now, not the kid who was recruited by Roland Dane as the apprentice to ‘The Master’, Craig Lowndes, in the early days of T8.

Somewhere on the road he became equal to Lowndes, and then better, and

JAMIE WHINCUP

BY THE NUMBERS Age: Starts: Championships: Race wins: Podiums: Pole positions:

38 552 7 124 237 92

when he went past the championship totals of Mark Skaife, Dick Johnson and Ian ‘Pete’ Geoghegan - who each have five crowns - he was confirmed as the GOAT - Greatest Of All Time - in Supercars.

“Lowndes was almost the benchmark at that stage. So I tried to get at least to his level in the first 12-18 months.

“Then it was a case of getting to the next step, which I’d like to think I’ve found.

“I don’t rate myself, either. There is no point. I let everybody else do that.

When I started to win races I knew . . .”

But, even as the GOAT, he has not sparked the same level of love that pours towards Johnson, or Allan Moffat, or any number of champions and Supercars notables.

He is more in the Skaife mould, too focussed on racing and winning to waste time with autographs and - if they had been around - selfies. But Whincup plans to change things once has stopped driving.

“Now I’ve finished up, maybe there is some time just to communicate with people.

There is a big fan base that’s been around for 20 years, but I haven’t spent much time with them because I’ve had to compete. Other athletes have been totally dedicated to their career and I’m no different.

“When you finish you’ve got a lot more time on your hands. More time to spend with people. You can actually communicate with people and spare five minutes with them.

“That hasn’t been my style or strategy.

I’m looking forward to that, instead of focussing and drilling-in on one thing, which is doing the best job.”

Ask Whincup who he admires in motorsport and he is quiet. But he is happy to talk about tennis legend Roger Federer, who has been a long-time inspiration.

“I never had a motorsport person to look up. But it was probably Roger. I really enjoyed the way he went about his sport and his craft.

“I still enjoy the way he goes about his

Whincup on his way to his first win at Bathurst in 2006, a race he shared with Craig Lowndes in the Tripple Eight Falcon.

2006 was a big year which also delivered his first Supercars race win on the streets of Adelaide (below).

Whincup has worked with some of the best engineers in the Supercars paddock, he is in discussion with David Cauchi (bottom).

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Whincup claimed his seventh and final Supercars Championship on the streets of Newcastle in dramatic fashion. Here he celebrates with the team.

A fourth place in China with Tasman Motorsport certainly caught the attention of the paddock in 2005.

sport. So, just the one.”

What about his driving technique, which revolutionised Supercars when he found a way to pivot the back into corners like a giant go-kart?

“I just experimented corner-to-corner and track-to-track, and worked out what worked for me in the result of the lap time,” he says.

It’s time now to look back, something Whincup has never really done, to put his life in Supercars into focus.

So, any regrets?

“I don’t regret anything. I’m not sure why. But I try to make the best call I have with the info I have at the time.”

What about the breakthrough win, when he knew he could be a contender?

“I think fourth place at China (in 2005, when he was still driving for Tasman Motorsport) was a big deal for me. That’s when I knew if I had a good car I could drive as well as anyone. It was a bit of a breakthrough.

“That was a big stage because everyone was watching that day. It was probably the result. We got lucky and we rolled out with a fast car and it was quick. ‘’Before then I didn’t know if I was going to be as quick as the other guys. Speed is what it’s all about. That’s the best strategy for most races as well. So it is key.”

And his toughest win?

“One that comes to mind was Tasmania

28 AutoAction

in 2008. The round before I won the championship.

“I had a completely de-laminated tyre with four laps to go. Todd Kelly was breathing down my neck and I just hung on to get home.

“That had championship implications.

That was the pivotal point in me winning my first championship.”

What about the most satisfying victory?

“There’s got to be something there.

Gee, there’s been a few,” Whincup begins.

“No, it’s got to be 2012, Adelaide. The Clipsal 500 on the Saturday. I had to do qualifying lap after qualifying lap to try

Whincup had a phenomenal year in 2012, he won the championship, the Bathurst 1000 and the Saturday race of the Clipsal 500 which he described as one of the best of his career. All achieved behind the wheel of ‘Kate,’ the most successful chassis in ATCC/Supercars history which he now owns.

In his second year at Bathurst, a young Whincup paired up with Garth Tander, the duo finished in 19th, 15 laps down.

and make a three-stop strategy work.

“I got Davo (Will Davison) with half a lap to go.”

Over his 20 years in Supercars he has faced, and beaten, a roll-call of race winners and champions. He’s also been trumped a few times, this year by van Gisbergen but also by Scott McLaughlin and even James Courtney. But who was the one that was toughest to top?

“Going through, I don’t know who’s been tougher. But I had some big battles with Garth (Tander) early on, then Will Davo, and then Scotty Mac and, most recently SvG. “It was a long old grind there from 2016, ‘17, ‘18, ‘19, and ’20 with Scotty. We were still running into each other with a round to go. That was a really enjoyable, special rivalry.

“I’m sure it would be the same with SvG if we weren’t in the same team.”

What about a driver he never raced, who he would has liked to meet on the track?

“Probably Jim Richards at his peak. I’ve got a lot of respect for Jimmy.

“What really brought that on was when I watched him on television, when I was a kid, dominate in the Bob Jane T-Marts car in NASCAR one night. He was running a different line at the Thunderdome (Calder Park) and I was confused about why no-one else was adapting to what he was doing.

“Then he jumped onto Bob Jane’s

helicopter and flew to a touring car race.

I was massively impressed.”

Now that retirement is real and now, Whincup admits it’s been coming for a while. But it wasn’t a lack of competitiveness, or tougher opposition, that triggered his thoughts about life beyond the driving seat.

“It was the idea of going into management. I knew I wanted to continue racing, and I knew I couldn’t continue as a professional driver forever.

So that’s how it all started,” Whincup begins.

“It was probably four or five years ago.

It was probably just before, or around the same time, as my last championship.

“That was when I started having the thoughts. So it’s been a long time coming. It’s been a long-executed plan, it isn’t something that happened 10 minutes ago.”

But what is he going to miss?

“The competition. The pressure. I’m going to miss the pressure of competing.

“I don’t think I will get that start line, or Top 10 shootout, or qualifying-lap pressure. You’ve got nerves for hours before those ones and you’re still buzzing for a long time afterwards.

“It means everything to me, it’s huge.

It’s a big toll on the body, but pressure is a privilege and unfortunately the majority of the population don’t experience it that often.

“Anyone in top-level sport knows what I’m talking about. It’s not a nice feeling, but certainly something I will miss.”

But there is still Bathurst this weekend, where Whincup will be going all-in for one last shot at The Great Race as the primary driver.

“My whole focus will be on doing my best in my last race, the same as always,” he says.

“I think I’ll try to ensure I’m in my zone, in the right zone. I won’t have time to think about what the race means and the moment that comes with my last race.

“I’m very grateful of the recognition of my service, so to speak, but I’m going to be quite rude and selfish and focus on the job at hand.”

But Bathurst 2021 is very unlikely to be the last start for the GOAT. He could do more GT racing with Triple Eight and he definitely wants to return to Mount Panorama, in the same way as Lowndes and Skaife and Tander, as a rock-solid co-driver.

“That’s certainly what I want to do.

Whincup and Lowndes have won many races together, their most recent piece of silverware came when they won the Sandown 500 together in 2019.

That’s pencilled in, but I want to reserve the final call until I understand the workload next year.

“It might allow time for me to do other activities and other driving, like the 12-Hour. I loved the GT racing I did in the Australian championship.

“Trying to be the best racing driver in the country is unbelievably time consuming.

Once eliminate that I’ve got more time for friends and family. And plenty of time to invest in my managing director role at Triple Eight.

“We’re just trying to get the last one over the line.”

Even so, Whincup is still young, still with lots to learn and lots to prove. There will be new challenges.

He has already been pivoting that way through his final season, as he is more open and more engaging. He has things to say and he is happier to say them.

But as he faces up to retirement after Bathurst, and the reality that his time as the benchmark in Supercars is done, how would he like to be remembered?

“The one thing that sticks in my mind is just to keep it real.

I like to think I’ve been myself and a real person, and kept it genuine. That means a lot to me.

“I haven’t been fake or ripped anyone off. I’ve just been myself.”

JAMIE WHINCUP

THIS OR THAT? 1. Boxers or briefs?

Briefs.

2. Neat freak or mess head?

Neat freak.

3. Dog or cat?

Dogs.

4. Call or txt?

Call.

5. Form or function?

Function. Something has to work well.

6. Cake or ice cream?

Ice cream. Chocolate 7. Work hard or play hard?

Work hard. Always.

8. AFL or rugby league?

AFL 9. Toilet paper - under or over?

Over. That’s the way it was homologated.

10. Coffee or tea?

Tea. English Breakfast.

Jamie Whincup took his and Triple Eight Race Engineering’s first Supercars Championship in 2008 (left) Whincup celebrates with Team Principal Roland Dane. Whincup and teammate Shane van Gisbergen duelling for second at Sydney Motorsport Park.

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BATHURST 1000 GUIDE

BATHURST THROUGH The 2021 running of the classic Bathurst 1000 is the 59th edition of the car race that stops our nation.

DAN McCARTHY looks back at the memorable moments from 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago

AS AUTO ACTION celebrates its 50th birthday on the eve of ‘The Great Race’ it’s a great time to look back at the Mount Panorama classic and how it has changed since the first edition of AA hit the streets in 1971.

Back then, Bathurst was a torture test for Improved Production cars that were very closely tied to the showroom stars of the day.

The track was not much more than a high-speed tourist road over the top of Mount Panorama, complete with wooden fences, fearsome drops and corners that punished anyone who made a mistake. The bitumen strip was narrow and edged with grass, without any of the safety – gravel traps and

concrete walls – we take for granted in 2021.

Despite the changes, and the vast increase in the speed of purposebuilt Supercars racers, the DNA of Bathurst is essentially the same. It’s a full-day touring car battleground for the country’s most popular cars and drivers.

The first big change in the Bathurst field came in 1973, when the Group C regulations and cars became much more racy. There were modifications for reliability and speed and, at the end of the era, the Bathurst contenders looked more like real racers with front spoilers, flared wheel arches and rear wings.

So the class that started with GTHO Falcons racing XU-1 Toranas ended

with the iconic popping and banging VH Commodores and XE Falcons. It was classic heartland racing, with Ford against Holden every October on The Mountain.

Things changed again for 1985 when the Australian Touring Car Championship was totally overhauled for Group A racing, a global platform that became the foundation for the World Touring Car Championship, and an influx of heavily-funded factory racing teams from the likes of BMW, Ford, Holden and even Mercedes-Benz.

The homegrown Aussie Commodores and Falcons were forced into the back seat through to 1982, as the family Falcon was replaced by the compact

European Sierra turbo and the rival Commodore was made uncompetitive by restrictive rules. It was the time of the fiery Sierra RS, BMW’s M3, the unlikely Volvo 240T and then Godzilla – the Nissan GT-R that killed the category.

For 1993, Group A was out and Australia returned to homegrown V8 muscle cars as the traditional battle of Ford against Holden, Blue Oval against the Red Lion, was renewed.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, as Holden began to dominate, there was a call for an equal platform and this resulted in the cars of Project Blueprint.

They stayed for a decade as showroom stock became the V8-powered Supercars that race today.

showroom floor.

Class D, for vehicles costing from $3,151 to $4,350, included the Holden Torana GTR XU-1, Chrysler Valiant Charger, Ford Falcon 500 GS and Alfa Romeo Giulia.

Coming into the weekend the Bathurst 500 was predicted to be an incredibly tight battle between the brands but in qualifying the Phase IIIs locked out the top seven positions. Moffat took pole by 3 seconds, still the largest pole margin

in the race’s history.

Leo Geoghegan was best of the rest in a Valiant Charger, a full 6.8 seconds slower than Moffat.

The race itself was a Ford 1-2-3 sweep, as Phil Barnes and Bob Skelton shared the second-placed Ford with

1971 – MOFFAT DOUBLES DOWN THE GREAT race of the early 1970s was still run over 500 miles – or 804.67 kilometres – and Allan Moffat drove a full factory Falcon GT-HO to victory. His mount was the classic Phase III model and today a similar car with race history sells for more than $1 million.

Although it was a long and gruelling day at Mount Panorama, there was no requirement for co-drivers. There were some two-member crews but Bruce

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McPhee, who won in 1969, only gave his co-driver a single lap as he dashed to the toilet and grabbed a quick snack.

Moffat’s victory in the racer red Falcon was his second in a row and he was a full lap ahead of his nearest rival at the end of 130 laps of racing.

This was an era when Ford, Holden and Chrysler – with its Valiant Charger slugged it out for the outright win, while many other brands including Toyota, Fiat, Mazda and Datsun fought individual battles for class wins.

The classes were determined by price, with Class E – where Falcons totally dominated in ’71 – at the top for cars that cost more than $4,350 on the

THE DECADES

Images: Motorsport Images/Autopics.com.au

1981 – DICK GETS HIS FIRST WIN

Sydney car dealer David McKay in third.

Colin Bond first non-Ford in a Torana fielded by Harry Firth and the Holden Dealer Team.

The ’71 race is remembered for the infamous crash of Bill Brown at McPhillamy Park when a right-rear puncture on his Falcon slung him up a grass bank before he rolled along the top of a fence made from wooden railway sleepers. The car was almost cut in half and he was lucky to get out unharmed It took several minutes for Brown to be assisted from the wreckage as the race continued as if nothing had occurred.

Fifty years ago, tyres and brakes were not what they are today and teams and drivers were forced to buy high-performance road parts – including brake pads and tyres - to fit to the racers.

These were often the limiting factors of a car’s ultimate performance and would often prove decisive in the lower classes over the race distance.

This was the case in 1971, the factory Mazda Dealers Capella crashed due to lack of brakes at the end of Conrod Straight.

In Class B, Datsun credited its low-profile Bridgestone tyres for a victory over Mazda which ran on road-style radial tyres.

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AFTER THE devastation of the ‘Rock’ incident in 1980, when Dick Johnson crashed out of an early lead in his thundering XD Falcon, the laconic Queenslander and his rock-solid co-driver John French rebounded to win the 1981 Bathurst 1000.

Now a 1000-kilometre race run over 163 laps – but still on the old course without The Chase - the race had taken a massive leap in professionalism and pace. Even in wet conditions in qualifying the cars were still faster than Allan Moffat’s pole time a decade earlier.

“There were rock walls, there was no wall on the left-hand side over Skyline, there was none of that sort of stuff, no chicane down the straight and the dipper was twice as deep,” Johnson recalled to Auto Action.

The international interest in the race, which started when Le Mans champion Jacky Ickx won with Moffat in 1977, was building into the 1980s.

Bob Morris imported sports car expert John Fitzpatrick, Moffat had former F1 driver and Le Mans winner Derek Bell, and even the then-reigning Formula 1 World Champion Alan Jones returned home for race.

By 1981 there was a much simpler class structure for Bathurst, with one class for eight cylinders and over, one for six cylinders and rotary, and the other for four-cylinder machines.

It was an incredibly close race in the early stages as Peter Brock in a VC Commodore fought against Johnson and Morris in XD Falcons, followed by Kevin Bartlett in a Chevrolet Camaro and Moffat, now in a howling little Mazda RX-7, never far away.

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Bartlett who took pole position, but was knocked out of contention after a collision with a back marker caused by fading brakes on the big blue Camaro, as Johnson explains how lapping back-markers was a challenge in the 80s.

“The most notable thing was the speed differential, down Conrod Straight,” he says. “Some of the Corollas and even slower cars were a problem, but it was something we used to deal with.

“That was when we used to have around 55 starters.

“Some of the poor buggers used to spend more time looking in the mirror than they did forward, their arms waving out the window over the roof, all sorts of things to say ‘Pass me on this side’.

“The worst part about it was there was never any defined rule of which way you would indicate, and everyone was different, it was a bit of a lottery when you went to pass them.”

Back then, less than half of the field that started would greet the chequered flag thanks to inevitable mechanical failures and crashes.

“The thing is, even back then with the XD you’d have to look after the car because otherwise they’d break.

Today it’s just a flat-out bloody race,” he says.

“Supercars are purpose-built race cars, what we had were bloody family sedans that were hotted up.

“As far as professional teams go there were very few back then, other than the Holden Dealer Team, it was survival of the fittest back then.”

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Johnson explained about the pressure that was on his shoulders after the crash with ‘The Rock’ and the fact that thousands of people had pledged money totalling $84,000.

“81 was probably the most difficult year of my motor racing career for the simple reason that when you have that many people the year before that put their trust in you, - I’m not the sort of person to take the money and run there was that much pressure that I had to do something.

“It was motivation for me to make sure that we went somewhere with it and it fortunately it fell our way.”

He took victory when the race was red flagged after a multi-car pile-up at the top of The Mountain on lap 121.

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1991 – GODZILLA CONQUERS THE MOUNTAIN

BY 1991, the Group A era was in full swing at Bathurst and the cars reflected a set of regulations that were incredibly popular internationally and had been imported to Australia in 1985.

Despite its initial local success, with factory BMWs and a huge horde of locally-built Sierra turbos and the occasional Volvo, Group A became hated due to the domination of the Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R, dubbed by Wheels magazine as ‘Godzilla’ in a nickname which went around the world.

The turbocharged and all-wheel drive Nissan won three straight touring car titles from 1990 with Jim Richards and Mark Skaife, and also became the first Japanese brand to conquer the mountain. Twice.

Following the dominance of the Sierras – the best of them in Shell colours with Dick Johnson and John Bowe – the GT-R struggled at first because of its complexity. But once Fred Gibson and his crew, with help from the USA, got on top of the car and developed a bunch of local components it was up and running.

Its debut year was 1990s and in 1991 Richards and Skaife won all but two races. In the Group A era parity was not spoken about, as each car achieved its speed very differently.

The BMW M3 was agile at tight and technical circuits, with great brakes, and won the other two races that year.

“I suppose you could say that they were probably just about equal on horsepower (with the Sierras), but probably not quite,” Richards tells Auto Action.

“The Nissan had

32 AutoAction

the four-wheel drive, which was brilliant, it had good brakes and not a bad weight.”

“In the Group A era, each car the manufacturer had homologated to run was very different. Each car that the manufacturers homologated had a certain strong and weak point.

“The Sierra’s strong point was that they weighed around 1200 kilos and they had 650 horsepower. But the downside was that they only put it through two not-that-big tyres on the road.

“The GTR was a lot heavier, about the same power, but it had four-wheel-drive. This meant it could keep its lap times up for a whole stint, where the Sierras would burn their tyres out as the race went on.

“The M3s were nimble, high revving, high tech, but put them up at Bathurst and they didn’t have a chance because of the power of the Sierras and Nissans.”

The rampaging Nissans were not popular with Aussie fans and this was the main reason for the move away from the Group A regulations.

And the cost of competing with high-tech imported cars.

“I didn’t think the reception was too bad in 91 but I could be mistaken, it was nothing like 1992,” Richards laughs.

The 1991 running of the classic 1000 was the last time that any combination won the race by a lap, after Skaife took pole by 1.2 seconds with the nearest non-Nissan 2.2 seconds back.

By 1991, ‘The Chase’ has been added, creating a new challenge for drivers and also shortening the incredibly long Conrod Straight to 1.9 kilometres.

As the track was longer the race was reduced to 161 laps.

Concrete walls now ringed the track with no risk of falling off the edge of the road or hitting trees, and there were still three classes, with the lowest and slowest dominated by baby Toyota Corollas.

2001 – RED LION RAMPAGE

EVERYTHING CHANGED through the next decade as the race became a straight heartland battle between Ford and Holden. There were no supporting classes, just the rampaging V8s, and the race had developed into the style of combat we know today.

The rivalry between Ford and Holden was as strong as it had been in the 1970s, but Holden was clearly on top and the factory Holden Racing Team dominated thanks to its star drivers Craig Lowndes and then former Nissan winner Mark Skaife.

But there was a surprise in 2001, as Skaife and Tony Longhurst – a former winner in a Sierra who was recruited to share the HRT Holden – were unexpectedly challenged by the Falcon of Brad Jones and Scotsman John Cleland, a BTCC star who made many trips down under for Bathurst.

The race was no longer about nursing the cars’ brakes and componentry to the finish and the final three hours were now a flat-out sprint.

In the end, and despite an overheating problem that had Longhurst pleading with team boss Kim Jones to call off an epic battle, the HRT duo prevailed by just 2.28 seconds.

“I’m 100 per cent confident in this answer that, from 1993 (the first year of the Group 3A regulations) onwards, it was a sprint race,” Skaife explains to Auto Action. “I remember driving the car pretty much as hard as you could drive for most of the day.

“It wasn’t a complete sprint race, look, it’s not a complete sprint race now, anybody that tells you

BATHURST 1000 GUIDE

2011 – THE ROOKIE AND THE PRO

that’s kidding themselves.

“In the early parts of the day, you have to get all your stops out of the way and have to look after the fuel economy. That hasn’t really changed very much because that’s how it was in the mid-90s.

“From the start of this category, we worked out pretty quickly that you needed to have the best car within a couple of hours of the end, and that’s how you that’s how you went about winning.”

The early noughties became a battle between the VX Commodore and the wide-eyed AU Falcon, and it was the General who was very much coming out on top.

Holden had now won three consecutive Bathurst 1000 races and four championships, and this domination continued into 2002.

In 2001 and 2002 Skaife raced the now famous ‘Golden Child,’ a Holden Racing Team-built VX Commodore chassis which could not be stopped.

“We did quite a lot of work on making sure that that was going to be a better car than the previous one, there was always a lot of thinking around what you would do to improve it,” Skaife recalls.

“We did a lot of thinking and there was a lot of stuff around torsional rigidity, seating position and the way that the steering column actuation worked.

“It’s my favourite car because, obviously, the results.

It ended up having a halo around because it ended up winning to two Bathursts, two championships and two Clipsals, it was a sensational car.”

AFTER THE never-ending HRT domination, and to even the competition between Ford and Holden, the rules were changed again as Project Blueprint regulations were introduced for 2003.

It worked incredibly well and, over the 10 seasons, six drivers’ titles went to the ‘Blue Oval’ and four to ‘The General’. However, the balance of power was different at Bathurst as Holden won seven 1000s to just three for Ford.

The 2011 season was the penultimate year of the regulations, the field was closer than ever, and in provisional qualifying before the Top 10 shoot-out just one second covered the top 17 cars.

By the end of the race there were also nine different teams in the top 10 finishers, but with Garth Tander in front in a HRT Commodore with rookie Nick Percat sharing the driving.

“You get to the end of the rule set, everyone knows those cars inside out. Everyone knows how to get the most out of them, it was competitive,” race winner Garth Tander recalls to Auto Action.

“That’s always the way when you get towards the end of a (good) ruleset that’s been existing for a long period of time. Triple Eight were fast, Stones (Stone Brothers Racing) was fast, GRM (Garry Rogers Motorsport) was fast, FPR (Ford Performance Racing) was fast, our cars were pretty good.

Tander believes that, 10 years ago, there was actually more tech that would become beneficial in the later stages of the race.

“There was probably more tricks you could do back then as far as getting fuel economy, a few more gizmo’s in the car back then, that made the race interesting,” he says.

But for 2010 there was a new rule that two full-time drivers could not share a car in the Bathurst 1000.

It was designed to stop domination by a handful of teams and even the field.

This has altered strategy in the last decade as teams in the early stages of the race are now trying to tick off the co-drivers’ mandatory 54 laps as early as legally possible.

“The fact that we’ve got more cars that are capable of winning the race is better,” Tander feels. “Back in the day, when this was a different type of race when it was more of a pilgrimage for privateers, the two primary drivers getting together was fine.

“But as the race has evolved over the journey, and there are less cars are in the race, this adds another layer of complexity and another layer of intrigue to it as well.

“You became more mindful of making sure the co-drivers are comfortable in the car once we went to the primary driver and secondary driver format.

“It probably changed the mindset a little bit about how you went about setting up the car, but in reality it was probably not a lot different as far as when we had two primary drivers.”

Early in the race Percat clouted the wall at Griffin’s Bend and was lucky not to suffer damage before he handed the car back to Tander for the heavy lifting.

At the end of the race it was a showdown between Tander and Lowndes. The latter was hounding the HRT Commodore for lap after lap but was unable to make his way by despite his best efforts, particularly on the final lap.

Tander’s winning margin of 0.2917 seconds still remains the second closest (non-formation) finish in Bathurst 500-1000 history.

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BATHURST 1000 GUIDE WHO IS IN IT TO WIN IT?

It looks a lot easier to predict in 2021 thanks to the absolute domination through the Supercars championship by Shane van Gisbergen, who is re-joined at Mount Panorama by Garth Tander.

The pair are the defending Bathurst champions and the most likely winners.

But the four-weekend sprint-race wrap at Sydney Motorsport Park also shows there are at least five other solid contenders - from Erebus and Shell V-Power Racing.

The most recent racing has helped set the form guide for the big one.

Instead of rating the chances of a win, this year PAUL GOVER and DAN McCARTHY rate out of 10 the contenders as potential finishers on the podium on Sunday afternoon.

WINNERS AND WANNABES Luff is proven on the podium but he’s in the second-string WAU Commodore and Fullwood has struggled to make an impact this year.

6.5

Proven Bathurst speed at the start of the season but still not quite in the front battle group.

7

2 Bryce Fullwood/Warren Luff Walkinshaw Andretti United – Commodore

3 Tim Slade/Tim Blanchard Blanchard Racing Team – Mustang

After a rollercoaster couple of years with Walkinshaw Andretti United former Super2 Series winner Bryce Fullwood will be looking to end his tenure with the team on a high. With four top 10 finishes this year, Fullwood has shown great pace at times. The Territorian certainly has a reliable co-driver to lean on in six-time Bathurst 1000 podium finisher Warren Luff. Last year Luff finished on the podium with Chaz Mostert and would definitely be targeting a top 10 this year.

A very experienced duo, the Tim X2 have many years of Supercars knowledge under their belts. For Slade it will be his 13th Bathurst 1000 and Blanchard his 11th. This year saw the formation of the single car Blanchard Racing Team and throughout the year Slade has performed very well over the long runs with excellent tyre life and notably on debut at Bathurst earlier this year Slade qualified on the front row. Watch for this pair to be in the top 10 late on.

Engineer Terry Kerr

An earthquake that swallows the front half of the field would help their chances

3

Engineer Mirko De Rosa

Not much experience but Le Brocq has shown some recent speed.

5

4 Jack Smith/David Wall Brad Jones Racing – Commodore

5 Jack Le Brocq Zak Best Tickford Racing – Mustang

Unlikely to be podium contenders, Jack Smith and David Wall will be targeting a top 15 finish. Ash Walsh was set to drive alongside full-time driver Smith, however issues with the COVID-19 borders saw Carrera Cup front-runner and a former Supercars driver Wall rushed in to fill the vacant seat. For Wall it will be his first Bathurst 1000 since 2017 when he teamed up with Rick Kelly in the Nissan Altima.

Jack Le Brocq’s two-year tenure at Tickford has been full of highs and lows, highlighted by a maiden win at Sydney Motorsport Park in 2020. Le Brocq heads into Bathurst with several top 10 finishes in the books at SMP and will be joined this year by Tickford Racing protégé Zak Best. The young Victorian is the only driver this year making his Bathurst 1000 debut, but is certainly no stranger to a Supercar, sitting second in the Super2 Series.

Engineer Paul Forgie

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Engineer Sam Scaffidi

A definite podium chance and could definitely get to the top.

8

6 Cameron Waters/James Moffat Tickford Racing –Mustang Engineer Sam Potter

A great combination, Cameron Waters and James Moffat will be a duo to look out for. If they stay out of trouble they will be contenders for not only a podium, but a win. Waters finished second last year, less than a second shy of the winners, while his new teammate Moffat was given the role of finishing the race against the regulars drivers. Waters was ultra-fast at The Mountain earlier in the year and will be a winning contender with Moffat.

6

Missing the X-factor to contend from the start.

The best of the BJR combinations could easily bag a podium

7

7 Andre Heimgartner/Matt Campbell Kelly Grove Racing – Mustang

8 Nick Percat/Dale Wood Brad Jones Racing – Commodore

Andre Heimgartner has been extremely fast at times this season and will be looking to end his four-year term with the Braeside operation on a high. The Kiwi will be joined by Bathurst 12 Hour winner and Le Mans class winner Matt Campbell who has not raced a Supercar since 2017. Heimgartner has always shown his exceptional skill in the rain, taking a win in tricky conditions at The Bend earlier in the year, this pair will be contenders if it is wet on Sunday.

After five years with Brad Jones Racing, Nick Percat will move on after the Bathurst 1000. BJR always performs well in long distance races, particularly the Bathurst 1000 due to well-known BJR strategy calls. Percat always lifts his game when he gets to Bathurst, a winner on debut Percat has finished on the podium twice since. This year Percat will be joined by Supercars veteran Dale Wood and will likely be in the top 10 late on.

Engineer Dilan Talabani

6

Nice guys but unlikely to challenge

Engineer Andrew Edwards

Brown’s breakthrough is creating expectations.

8

14 Todd Hazelwood/Dean Fiore Brad Jones Racing – Commodore

9 Will Brown/Jack Perkins Erebus Motorsport – Commodore

Another mixture of youth and experience, South Australian Todd Hazelwood has shown great pace at times this year, but luck has not gone his way when an opportunity has presented itself. Like Percat he will be keen to end his time at BJR on a high and will be joined by the always reliable Dean Fiore. Although an unlikely podium contender, the #14 duo will be expected to be around the top 10 late in the day.

Will Brown has had an exceptional rookie campaign, highlighted by a win at Sydney Motorsport Park. He will be joined by the similarly sized Jack Perkins who finished on the podium with James Courtney in 2019, and Perkins will be keen to replicate that with the rising force that is Erebus Motorsport. The Victorian team has returned to form in 2021, the Brown and Perkins combination is one that contains both youth and experience and is a dark horse.

Engineer Tony Woodward

Engineer Tom Moore

Need a faster car than last year, but will be in the battle pack.

8.5

11 Anton De Pasquale/Tony D’Alberto Dick Johnson Racing – Mustang Engineer Ludo Lacroix

Anton De Pasquale, Tony D’Alberto and engineer Ludo Lacroix will undoubtably be contenders to win the Bathurst 1000 this year. While D’Alberto may not be quite as quick as Garth Tander for example, the former full-time driver is a very safe and reliable pair of hands. When De Pasquale raced for team at Bathurst earlier in the year, he was new to outfit and the car, but over recent events has come on leaps and bounds taking five of the last 10 Supercars Championship races.

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Should sneak a podium but missing the last bit of speed

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Another veteran pairing who know how to do the job.

7.5

17 Will Davison/Alex Davison Dick Johnson Racing – Mustang

18 Mark Winterbottom/Michael Caruso Team 18 – Commodore

Originally it was hoped that Will Davison would race with Scott McLaughlin in the #17 Dick Johnson Racing car, but due to border issues and IndyCar commitments Davison will be joined by his brother Alex. While disappointed to not get McLaughlin, Alex Davison is still a handy replacement with 17 ‘Great Race’ starts. The brothers have paired up four times previously finishing as high as fourth. This is their best chance of achieving a podium and indeed the victory together.

Mark Winterbottom and Michael Caruso, a very underrated duo. Winterbottom a former Great Race winner, Caruso a former podium finisher and recent full-time driver. As they did in 2020, Team 18 has shown great race pace but still has a qualifying weakness. Earlier this year Bathurst was an exception to the rule, Winterbottom qualified in the top 10 and raced there all weekend. If this form can be replicated Winterbottom and Caruso will be podium contenders.

Engineer Richard Harris

Recent form has been lacklustre but better

4

Engineer Manuel Sanchez

A good outside bet for a podium.

8

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20 Scott Pye/James Golding Team 18 Holden – Commodore

Team Sydney has shown a form upturn in recent events, however it is difficult to see ex-DJR driver Fabian Coulthard and former Bathurst 1000 winner Jonathon Webb being contenders for a Bathurst podium. As a team still in its infancy that is looking to improve year on year, last year Webb alongside main driver Alex Davison finished 12th, this year he and Coulthard will be targeting a top 10.

Another strong Team 18 pairing, two-time Bathurst 1000 runner-up Scott Pye will be joined by former Garry Rogers Motorsport Supercars driver come S5000 front-runner James Golding.

Last year Golding paired up with Mark Winterbottom and the duo finished in eighth position, while Pye finished in sixth with Dean Fiore. At the age of 25 Golding is a young but yet experienced co-driver, Pye and Golding are certainly a dark horse for a podium.

Fabian Coulthard/Jonathon Webb Team Sydney Commodore Engineer Geoffrey Slater

Not enough speed for the big one.

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Engineer Phil Keed

Definitely in the mix and should podium

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22 Garry Jacobson/Dylan O’Keeffe Team Sydney – Commodore

25 Chaz Mostert/Lee Holdsworth Walkinshaw Andretti United – Commodore

This year will be Garry Jacobson’s fifth straight Bathurst 1000 and he will be joined by TCR front-runner Dylan O’Keeffe who made his Bathurst debut last year. O’Keeffe will no doubt be able to mix it amongst many of the co-drivers up and down the lane. In the latter stages of the race we doubt that the #22 Team Sydney machine will have the legs to keep up with the top 15, something that will be a target for the pair.

Undoubtably Chaz Mostert and Lee Holdsworth are one of the strongest pairings this year.

Holdsworth is dependable, quick and still race sharp having contested the TCR Australia Series.

This will be Holdsworth’s first season as a co-driver since the 2005 Bathurst 1000. Mostert has shown through the year that Walkinshaw Andretti United has made a leap forward, taking a couple of race wins and regular podiums. This pair undoubtably go to ‘The Mountain’ targeting a win.

Engineer Mark Robinson

A proven race winning combination, but …

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26 David Reynolds/Luke Youlden Kelly Grove Racing – Mustang Engineer Alistair McVean

A Bathurst 1000 winning pair reunited… Luke Youlden re-joins David Reynolds for the Bathurst 1000 at a new home in Kelly Grove Racing. The pair won together in 2017 and nearly went back-to-back in 2018, before cramping issues for Reynolds late on robbed the duo of victory. The race in 2017 was one of the wettest in the events history, rain is a possibility this weekend, if so this pair could very easily find themselves on the podium.

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Engineer Adam Deborre

Not enough of the good stuff for success

5

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Jake Kostecki/Kurt Kostecki Matt Stone Racing – Commodore Engineer Tim Newton

Brothers Jake and Kurt Kostecki will race together in the Bathurst 1000 for the first time. Both have experience behind the wheel in the Supercars Championship this year competition. Jake has raced full-time for Matt Stone Racing, while his brother Kurt contested three rounds as a ‘Wildcard’ with Walkinshaw Andretti United. This will put the team in good stead as co-driver laps have been hard to come by this season due to COVID-19, the pair will be targeting a top 15 finish.

BATHURST 1000 GUIDE 5

Goddard can be quick but this pairing lacks experience

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Best story in town, but unlikely for a happy ending.

35 Zane Goddard/Jayden Ojeda Matt Stone Racing – Commodore

39 Broc Feeney/Russell Ingall Triple Eight Race Engineering – Commodore

Zane Goddard and Jayden Ojeda, two young guns are back for their second crack at ‘The Mountain’ this year. In 2020 Ojeda was drafted in last minute to race in the Garry Rogers Motorsport ‘Wildcard’ entry, while Zane Goddard teamed up with Jake Kostecki in the Superlite Matt Stone Racing car. The MSR Commodores have certainly made a leap forwards this year, knocking on the door of the top 10 regularly.

The Wildcard, and boy is it a Wildcard… 57-year-old, two-time winner Russell Ingall is back to team up with 19-year-old Broc Feeney. Driving a Triple Eight Racing built Commodore, the machine will no doubt be more than capable of winning, but what about the drivers? Feeney is stepping up as Jamie Whincup’s replacement in the main game and will lead the duo. In a Triple Eight machine Feeney would be expected to have top 10 pace, as for Ingall, Triple Eight seem pleased with his testing pace.

Engineer Jack Bellotti

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Needs to be faster than recently but not without some hope

44 James Courtney/Thomas Randle Tickford Racing – Mustang

Engineer Martin Short

8.5

Could easily produce a fairytale ending for the GOAT.

88 Jamie Whincup/Craig Lowndes Triple Eight Race Engineering – Commodore

Engineer Brad Wischusen

A great duo, a former champion and the reigning Super2 Series winner, James Courtney and Thomas Randle will be teammates full-time at Tickford Racing next year. Courtney was the only Tickford Racing driver to finish in the top 10 in dry conditions at Sydney Motorsport Park and will look to keep that momentum going. Randle as a co-driver would be immensely beneficial, almost a number one driver, this pair will be targeting a podium with Tickford’s strong pace this season.

6

Nice guys very rarely finish first

Engineer Wes McDougall

In his final full-time Supercars appearance Jamie Whincup teams up with Craig Lowndes once again, between them they have won 11 Bathurst 1000s, winning together from 2006-2008. They are just one of two co-driver combinations to remain the same. Lowndes has kept himself active and race sharp by racing in the Carrera Cup Series. It is impossible to rule out this duo out of contention for victory and would expect a podium at the very least.

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Definitely have podium potential

96 Macauley Jones/Chris Pither Brad Jones Racing – Commodore

99 Brodie Kostecki/David Russell Erebus Motorsport – Commodore

A line-up where the co-driver Chris Pither has more experience at Bathurst than main driver Macauley Jones. Pither is an underrated co-driver having finished fourth in the ‘Great Race’ alongside Dale Wood in 2017 and sixth the following year with Garth Tander at Garry Rogers Motorsport. It would be unlikely to see this car fighting for a podium, but a top 10 result is not out of the question.

Rising star Brodie Kostecki and David Russell appear to be an odd duo, but once again is a good mixture of youth and experience. Brodie Kostecki returns to the place at which he made a name for himself last year when he pushed Jamie Whincup into an unforced error early in the race. Russell has not had too much luck in recent years, his last top 10 coming in 2016. If this duo are in the fight late in the race don’t be surprised to see Kostecki bring home a top five.

Engineer Tom Wettenhall

Engineer George Commins

They have it all and they want it all.

9.5

97 Shane van Gisbergen/Garth Tander

Triple Eight Race Engineering – Commodore Engineer David Cauchi

The bookies favourites, the reigning champions, Shane van Gisbergen and Garth Tander. It is very hard to look past this pair. Van Gisbergen has had the season of his career to date winning 14 of the 30 races so far. Tander is tough and Van Gisbergen goes in with no pressure having wrapped up his second Supercars Championship at Sydney Motorsport Park. After last year the pair know what they need to do and with their experience will be ready for everything ‘The Mountain’ throws at them.

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BATHURST 1000 GUIDE

EXPERTS GO FOR A BATHURST REPEAT Van Gisbergen and Tander the unbackable favourites

By Paul Gover, News Editor Last year’s winners, Shane van Gisbergen and Garth Tander, are oddson favourites for a repeat result in the Repco Bathurst 1000 of 2021.

An exclusive Auto Action poll gives them an unbackable advantage over the rest of the pack, with everyone from former winners and television anchors picking them to win The Great Race.

Only two of the crew polled ahead of the Mount Panorama classic have gone against the favourites and Seven Network anchor Mark Beretta has the reason.

“They are the power team. Van Gisbergen is unstoppable, GT is a rock-solid co-driver and the team rarely make mistakes,” Beretta tells Auto Action.

“They will be the team to catch, all day.”

Beretta is even going for a Red Bull 1-2, backing Jamie Whincup for a podium at his last appearance at Bathurst as a Primary Driver.

“A highly skilled and experienced pairing. A solid combo, backed up by a gun team. Fast and reliable, and importantly, mountain smart.”

Like many other tipsters, Beretta is turning to the Shell V-Power squad for his final top tip.

“Anton De Pasquale and Tony D’Alberto. They should start near the front and stay there. Anton has great pace, and backed a reliable co-driver and a high performing team, they’re a good thing for a spot on the podium.”

Kevin Bartlett is a former Bathurst winner, a close watcher of Supercars, and one of the all-time toughest markers in the game.

He is going against the favourites with Anton De Pasquale and Tony D’Alberto.

“People say it’s a lottery these days, but I don’t think that’s the case. The cars are so close and everybody is so switched on,” Bartlett says.

“It’s going to be so mixed. I think it’s pure guesswork. I’ve gone with young De Pasquale and D’Alberto.

“I put Tander and van Gisbergen in second because they are both good.

I think the two Davisons will work together really well, and Will seems to hang in there. He has the odd car problem, and a bit of a whinge now and then, but sometimes justifiably.

“I’d put Winterbottom and Caruso them in for a place if I was betting, although doubt they will win it.”

Bathurst legends Allan Moffat and Fred Gibson sat down together for their predictions, which are a combination of recent form and sentiment.

Considering their Ford roots, even though Gibson became a Bathurst winning team boss with Nissan, it’s no surprise to see them also picking De Pasquale and D’Alberto.

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Kevin Bartlett, Bathurst winner

1. Anton De Pasquale - Tony D’Alberto 2. Shane van Gisbergen - Garth Tander 3. Will Davison - Alex Davison Bolter: Mark Winterbottom - Michael Caruso.

“De Pasquale has good form and D’Alberto is solid.”

“Bathurst should and could throw up some surprise results but, given the truncated season, I think the top three teams will be the ones that fill the podium.”

Mark Beretta, Seven anchor

1. Shane van Gisbergen - Garth Tander 2. Jamie Whincup - Craig Lowndes 3. Anton De Pasquale - Tony D’Alberto.

Bolter: Will Brown - Jack Perkins “The Erebus team has real podium potential. Will has shown he has the pace, and Jack is a great choice as co-driver. They’ll be gunning for the big names and, with that Erebus determination and passion, they’re a good bet for a podium finish.

Garry Rogers, veteran team boss

1. Shane van Gisbergen - Garth Tander 2. Cam Waters - James Moffat 3. Brodie Kostecki - Dave Russell Bolter: Scott Pye and James ‘Bieber’ Golding “Barring mechanical mishaps, Shane and Garth will get it. Obviously they are the best. When Pye is on the game and not worrying about his other businesses he can really drive and Bieber is bloody good.”

Alan Gow, British Touring Car Championship supremo and former Peter Brock team boss 1. Shane van Gisbergen - Garth Tander 2. Cam Waters - James Moffat 3. Anton De Pasquale - Tony D’Alberto Bolter: James Courtney (of course) Thomas Randle

Kevin Fitzsimons: Dunlop Motorsport

1. Shane van Gisbergen - Garth Tander 2. Jamie Whincup - Craig Lowndes 3. Chaz Mostert - Lee Holdsworth Bolter: Anton De Pasquale - Tony D’Alberto “Shane is driving so well at the moment, and the championship will be over, so it’s going to be a free-for-all at Bathurst.

Bill Gibson: Gibson Freight guru

1. Shane van Gisbergen - Garth Tander 2. Nick Percat - Dale Wood 3. Jamie Whincup - Craig Lowndes Bolter: Will Brown - Jack Perkins “It’s been such a disruptive season and Bathurst won’t be any different.”

Allan Moffat - Fred Gibson, Bathurst legends 1. Anton De Pasquale - Tony D’Alberto 2. Shane van Gisbergen - Garth Tander 3. Will Brown - Jack Perkins Bolter: Cam Waters - James Moffat “The young blokes are going well this year. We have to put James in there.”

Peter Hughes: ace motorsport artist

1. Shane van Gisbergen - Garth Tander 2. Cam Waters - James Moffat 3. Anton de Pasquale - Tony D’Alberto Bolter: Nick Percat - Dale Wood “I think Shane has got probably the quickest car, although Waters at Tickford and the DJR Mustangs will be just as quick. But Shane has the nous and he has Garth, and the beauty of Tander is that he is almost like a fulltimer.

Colin Bond: Supercars Hall of Famer

1. Shane van Gisbergen 2. Jamie Whincup - Craig Lowndes 3. Anton De Pasquale - Tony D’Alberto Bolter: Scott Pye - James Golding “Van Gisbergen has won everything else this year, so unless he runs out of fuel he probably won’t be beaten.”

HOW TO (ALMOST) WIN BATHURST Heading to Bathurst, veteran co-driver Warren Luff knows how to finish on the podium

By Paul Gover IN THE world of Bathurst co-drivers, Warren ‘Wazza’ Luff stands out on his own.

Apart from Glenn Seton, who never won the big one, he has come closest the most often to claiming the grand final.

Luff has become the Mount Panorama specialist over the past decade, despite a failure to break through as a main-game driver, and is seen as a lucky charm by a lot of teams and drivers.

From 20 starts in ‘The Big One he has six podiums, with two seconds and four third-placed results.

He has many special memories, but one stands out.

“My first podium in 2012 with Craig Lowndes was a special time in my life.

To step out with Craig is very special,” Luff says.

“That will always be my favourite podium. Until I win it, obviously.”

He tells Auto Action he takes a simple approach to success at Mount Panorama.

“You have to turn your ego off.

Absolutely. Bathurst is 161-lap race, not an audition for Supercars next year.

“At the end of the day, the co-driver’s job is not to win you the race, but not to lose it.

“I wouldn’t say I’m lucky. I don’t do

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anything differently when I’m at Bathurst.

“It’s just that it is one of those events where there is no substitute for hard work. And you need a little bit of luck to go your way.”

Luff has never relied on luck, preferring talent, and hard work and networking, to advance his career.

He was a speedy one-make specialist as a youngster, something he still uses as a stand-out guest driver in the Toyota 86 Series, but never got a clear shot at the main game in Supercars.

Dick Johnson Racing was at one of its lowest points when he raced alongside Steven Johnson, then he was with the under-resourced Britek and Lucas Dumbrell squads.

But Luff lit up when he was given the chance as a long-distance co-driver, racing successfully with a series of top teams including Triple Eight.

This year he is with Walkinshaw Andretti United, a move that would originally have paired him with Chaz Mostert before Lee Holdsworth became available.

So the relaxed and confident 45-year-old is jumping in alongside Bryce Fullwood for his final start at WAU. “This will be my 20th start. Well, I’ve been there 20 times but only started 19 times,” Luff laughs, recalling a giant

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Warren ‘Wazza’ Luff has plenty of Bathurst trophies to admire including a second place he shared with Scott Pye in 2017. For a guy who is very much a part timer these days, his results are rock solid.

He has another great chance to be on the podium this year again with Bryce Fullwood and WAU .

practice crash that still makes Bathurst highlights reels.

“In 2014 we had brake failure on Saturday in the HRT car, I went up on my side and hit Craig.”

“Last year I was third with Chaz at Tickford.”

Luff has often started at Bathurst, with the popular tactic of saving the lead driver for the final sprint to the flag.

“The race is won in the last stint, so your job is to keep the car in the best condition and best position you can and then let the main guy do the glory work at the end,” he says.

“I’ve been very lucky with most of the guys I’ve been with, because we’ve been not too different in height or weight. Even when there’s a difference in height, it’s finding the compromise that works for both.

“But you have to keep in mind that the main driver can be in car for up to a triple stint, so their comfort comes first.

They cannot win if they are cramping with 20 laps to go.

“It’s interesting the things you learn along the way from different guys. And it’s all about learning and improving yourself to be better the following year.

“In a normal year, even things like ride days are important to get comfortable and learn all the things you need, like

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the controls on the steering wheel, just to be comfortable when you’re driving.”

Luff feels confident heading into this year’s race and believes he has faced every challenge.

“I’ve probably started more times than I haven’t, because in recent years there has been a trend for co-drivers to start. Last year I started third on the grid and was mainly out there with primary drivers.

“Then it’s about controlling the emotion of the moment and no doing anything silly in the opening corners.

You have to settle into a groove and find your rhythm.

“I think in 2017 when I was with Scott Pye we started 20th and it rained for the start. We made a late change and I was in the car on the grid.

“It was myself and one other co-driver.

By the time I handed over to Scott we were sixth. That was cool, to be passing a lot of main-game guys in really sketchy conditions.”

But does it burn Luff that has not - until now - won at Bathurst.

“Like I’ve always said, any time you’re spraying champagne in the afternoon at Bathurst, it hasn’t been the worst day of your life. And standing and watching someone else up there on the podium definitely sucks.”

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SUPPORT CATEGORIES PREVIEW SUPER2/3

Drivers across the field will be hoping for better conditions at Mount Panorama after chaotic scenes in the last round at a wet and wild SMP. Broc Feeney is on the verge of securing the Super2 Series title, ahead of his promotion to the Supercars Championship next year with Triple Eight Race Engineering. The 19-yearold is 129 points clear of Zak Best, who is locked in a fight with Jayden Ojeda for second position. In the Super3 Series, Nash Morris will likely battle it out with Reef McCarthy for season honours. The pair are separated by 47 points, Michael Anderson is a further 73 points in arrears.

PORSCHE CARRERA CUP

Cameron Hill has been unmatched in the 2021 Porsche Carrera Cup Australia season, winning six of nine races thus far. The driver has achieved a further two podiums in a near flawless season, and there is no reason why he won’t lead the field again at Mount Panorama.

McElrea Racing pair Harri Jones and Cooper Murray have also performed well to this point, while experienced campaigner David Wall has been a picture of consistency without recording a win just yet.

S5000

Aaron Cameron is the man to beat after the first round of the S5000 Tasman Series, leading ex-Formula 1 driver Roberto Merhi and Tim Macrow by 19 points after three races at Sydney Motorsport Park. Cameron was initially only committed to the first round, but outstanding performances saw him agree to compete for the title at Mount Panorama. After winning the S5000 Australian Drivers Championship earlier in the year, Joey Mawson will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing first leg of the Tasman Series. Mawson drove from last to second in the final race at SMP but was involved in incidents in the first two races, leaving him sixth in the standings heading into Bathurst.

TCR

By the time Auto Action hits shelves, Chaz Mostert may already have secured the TCR Australia Series title.

A revised schedule for the Bathurst 1000 event benefited series leader Mostert immensely, granting him the opportunity to take part in the first race.

The rest of the positions are up for grabs, however, with a chasing pack of eight drivers separated by just 56 points. Luke King and Josh Buchan are best placed to stand on the podium with Mostert, but a twist or two is on the cards.

GT WORLD CHALLENGE AUSTRALIA

Yasser Shahin will be joined by a new teammate as he looks to wrap up the GT World Challenge Australia title at Mount Panorama. Factory Audi Sport

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driver Christopher Mies will partner Shahin, who is 37 points clear at the top, replacing regular co-driver Garth Tander who will miss due to Bathurst 1000 commitments. Shane van Gisbergen has also required a substitute, Peter Hackett stepping in.

Prince Jefri Ibrahim enters the round in second place, ahead of Tony Bates.

TOYOTA GAZOO RACING 86 SERIES

Zach Bates was the name on everyone’s lips at Sydney Motorsport Park, the driver claiming a clean sweep of race wins to extend his season tally to eight. He will likely be the driver to beat again at Bathurst, but Lachlan Gibbons will look to mount a challenge after finishing runner-up to Bates twice at SMP. Cameron Crick has also been a strong performer and is one to watch out for at ‘The Mountain’.

NATIONAL TRANS AM SERIES

Nathan Herne takes a commanding lead into competition at ‘The Mountain’, sitting 128 points clear of Edan Thornburrow. Herne was neck and neck with rival Aaron Seton heading into the round at Sydney Motorsport Park, however the latter exited the series in favour of concentrating on his Super2 season. Tim Brook, Thornburrow and Kyle Gurton all also enter Bathurst in strong form, having taken the fight to Herne at SMP.

TOURING CAR MASTERS There are five drivers in realistic

contention heading into the four-race Touring Car Masters season finale at Bathurst. Five-time TCM Champion and two-time Bathurst 1000 winner John Bowe leads the title race by 10 points ahead of Ryan Hansford, the son of 1993 Great Race winner Greg.

The Queenslander is 37 points ahead of Marcus Zukanovic and Cameron Tilley, who are tied for equal third in the championship on 398 points. Reigning and three-time TCM Champion Steven Johnson has a lot to do from fifth position, 58 points off the leader.

Outside of the title contenders, several key TCM names will enter the mix.

George Miedecke will drive the same 1969 Camaro that his father, Andrew, drove in the category. TCM race winner Dean Lillie returns driving a Holden Torana, as will a pair of Porsche 911 RS entries to be fielded by Terry Lawler and Sven Burchartz. Brad Tilley will also make his first start since the 2018 season aboard his iconic Ford Falcon GTHO.

V8 SUPERUTES

The V8 SuperUte Series title fight between heavyweights Aaron Borg (555 points), Ryal Harris (528 points) and previous round winner Cameron Crick (515 points) reaches its climax at Mount Panorama. Series leader Borg is looking to win the series on debut after claiming the 2019 Toyota 86 Series, while Harris is attempting to clinch his second title in three seasons.

Crick is one of seven Sieders Racing entries looking bring the team success.

BATHURST 1000 GUIDE SCHEDULE OF EVENTS TRACK SCHEDULE

Thursday, December 2

Time Category 08:25-08:45 V8 SuperUtes 08:55-09:20 Touring Car Masters 09:30-09:50 Dunlop Series 10:00-11:00 Supercars 11:20-11:40 Porsche Carrera Cup 11:50-12:50 Australian GT 13:00-13:25 Trans Am 13:35-14:00 S5000 14:10-14:30 V8 SuperUtes 14:40-15:00 TGRA86 15:10-15:30 Dunlop Series 15:45-16:15 Porsche Carrera Cup 16:25-17:25 Supercars

Friday, December 3

2021 CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Shane van Gisbergen Jamie Whincup Will Davison Chaz Mostert Cameron Waters Anton De Pasquale Nick Percat Will Brown Mark Winterbottom Brodie Kostecki

Triple Eight Race Engineering Triple Eight Race Engineering Dick Johnson Racing Walkinshaw Andretti United Tickford Racing Dick Johnson Racing Brad Jones Racing Erebus Motorsport Team 18 Erebus Motorsport

2828 2479 2233 2194 2093 2075 1804 1748 1611 1530

PREVIOUS 10 BATHURST 1000 WINNERS 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Garth Tander & Nick Percat Jamie Whincup & Paul Dumbrell Mark Winterbottom & Steven Richards Chaz Mostert & Paul Morris Craig Lowndes & Steven Richards Will Davison & Jonathon Webb David Reynolds & Luke Youlden Craig Lowndes & Steven Richards Scott McLaughlin & Alexandre Premat Shane van Gisbergen & Garth Tander

Holden VE Commodore Holden VE Commodore Ford FG Falcon Ford FG Falcon Holden VF Commodore Holden VF Commodore Holden VF Commodore Holden ZB Commodore Ford Mustang Holden Commodore ZB

Time Category 08:20-08:45 Touring Car Masters 08:55-9:55 Australian GT 10:05-10:30 S5000 10:40-11:40 Supercars 12:00-12:20 TGRA86 12:30-13:20 TCR 13:30-14:30 Supercars 14:45-15:15 Porsche Carrera Cup 15:30-16:15 Dunlop Series 16:35-17:15 Supercars

Saturday, December 4

Time Category 09:05-09:30 Trans Am 09:40-10:00 V8 SuperUtes 10:15-11:15 Supercars 11:35-12:00 S5000 12:15-13:15 Supercars 13:30-13:50 TGRA86 14:00-14:50 TCR 15:00-15:40 Porsche Carrera Cup 15:55-16:40 Dunlop Series 17:05 Supercars

Sunday, December 5

Time Category 08:35-08:55 TGRA86 09:10-09:30 Supercars 10:15-10:40 S5000 10:50-11:15 Porsche Carrera Cup 12:15 Supercars

Session Race 2 Race 2 Qualifying Race 1 Practice 1 Qualifying Race 1 Race 2 Race 1 Race 3 Qualifying Qualifying Race 2 Race 1 Practice 2 (co-drivers) Session Race 3 Race 2 Race 2 Practice 3 (co-drivers) Race 1 Race 2 Practice 4 Race 2 Race 1 Qualifying Session Race 3 Race 4 Practice 5 (co-drivers) Race 3 Practice 6 Race 2 Race 3 Race 3 Race 2 Top Ten Shootout Session Race 3 Warm Up Race 4 Race 4 Race 31 (161 laps)

BATHURST 1000 TV TIMES (AEDT) THURSDAY DECEMBER 2

Fox Sports 503: Live from 8:15am – 5:30pm - Livestreamed on Kayo

FRIDAY DECEMBER 3

Seven live and free: 10:30am – 5:30pm - Fox Sports 503: Live from 8:00am – 6:00pm - Livestreamed on Kayo

SATURDAY DECEMBER 4

Seven live and free: 10:00am – 6:00pm - Fox Sports 503: Live from 8:45am – 6:30pm - Livestreamed on Kayo

SUNDAY DECEMBER 5

Seven live and free: 8:30am – 7:00pm - Fox Sports 503: Live from 8:15am - Livestreamed on Kayo

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ELFIN T100 CLISBY 1.5-LITRE V6:

THE ONLY ALL-OZ GP CAR Harold Clisby’s 1.5-litre V6 broke cover with Grand Prix aspirations in 1961. Raced by Andy Brown in an Elfin Mono chassis in 1965, it was soon set aside. Mark Bisset relates the tale of this unique ‘what might have been’ and its future restoration.

AUSTRALIA HELD its breath in the distributors. second half of 1966 as our Jack “The 120-degree V6 layout was Brabham inched closer to his third F1 chosen given its balance and low World Championship win. centre of gravity.

His successful British built Brabham “The original block and heads cast BT19 chassis was powered by a Repco

by Wheatley and Williams were found Brabham 3-litre V8 engine built in to be porous, so we made our own Maidstone, a Melbourne western suburb. electric furnace, sand mixer and A world championship is a bit of a core oven to do all of the castings stretch, but Harold Clisby could have in-house,” recalls Drage, who lives in beaten the might of Brabham (Motor suburban Adelaide.

Racing Developments Ltd) and Repco Wet cast iron liners were used and Ltd to the honour of first Oz F1 engine the engine had a bore and stroke of had the precociously talented, wildly 73mm x 58.8mm. eccentric engineer stayed on task.

The heads had two gear driven In the end, the Adelaide built 1.5-litre camshafts, Clisby made valves were V6, publicly announced in 1961, finally Nimonic 80 forgings; inlets were 1½ raced from April-October 1965 fitted to inches and exhausts 1 3/8 inches in an Elfin Type 100 Mono chassis. diameter. A 30-degree valve angle By then the 1.5 F1 formula was in its allowed compact hemispherical final months. Clisby’s hovercraft, steam combustion chambers. engines, a railway which circumnavigated The compression ratio was 10.5:1, his Adelaide Hills home, and his growing the cams had BSA Gold Star profiles compressor manufacturing business, initially, with plenty of development meant the aluminium, 120-degree, quad potential.

The Clisby V6 team; Harold Clisby, Kevin Drage and Alec Baldwin at the cam, two valve, twin-carburettor 1.5-litre Plain A143 aluminium ‘pot’ pistons Prospect factory, a converted stately home, circa 1964.

V6 wasn’t prioritised. carried two compression and one Born in Norwood in 1912, Harold’s scraper rings and weighed eleven creative juices, like so many of his and succeeding Clisby cut his racing teeth in an MG TC on ounces each. Vibrac V45 steel I Section conrods generations, was fuelled by a Meccano set. He local climbs and circuits in 1948. In 1952, having were forged by Clisby, each pair of rods ran side worked in his father’s clothing business for a while, settled on the location of Collingrove Hillclimb with by side on one 1¾ inch diameter crank journal then for General Motors in an engineering capacity landowner, Robert Angas, he quickly designed and with Vandervell VP2 bearing shells used. The steel during the war, then post-war made his fortune built the Clisby Douglas Special to contest the hill’s crank had four main bearings. manufacturing air compressors and the Clisby/ first meeting that March.

The cooling system comprised a centrifugal Sherline Lathe, among other products.

The catalyst for the V6 F1 engine concept came pump for each cylinder bank. Water passed from a during a trip to Europe in 1960. Clisby, fired up gallery pipe into the space between the block-walls by visits to Coventry Climax, BRM and Ferrari and liners, the head was pulled down by eight decided to build an F1 engine. How hard can it be, bolts. after all? Harold set to work on the ship between “10,000rpm required a dual ignition system. Two Southampton and Port Melbourne.

14mm plugs were fired by four coils, two dual A V6 made perfectly good sense, Ferrari’s 2.5-litre point master distributors, two slave distributors V6 Dinos were incredibly successful GP cars in devoid of points, acted as distributors only. The 1957-58. They built their first 65-degree F2 1.5-litre cap and rotors were Bosch/Saab three-cylinder V6 in 1956-57 and were in the process of evolving components, other bits were made by us. their learnings into the dominant 1.5-litre 65-degree All up the engine weighed 260 pounds,” said – and later 120-degree – Ferrari 156 which swept Kevin. all before them in 1961. Phil Hill eventually won the Press interest started in April 1961 when drivers title so equipped.

Australian Motor Sports ran a piece. Sports Car Clisby Industries was a small team though, Graphic followed in the US and later Britain’s seventeen employees made 100 compressors Motor Racing in December 1962. “I’m certain a week among whatever other challenges were Harold phoned (Geelong racer) Tom Hawkes thrown at them by their proprietor, in the Prospect about potentially using the engine in his proposed Road, Prospect factory.

Ausper F1 car but equally sure he never spoke to Key members of the V6 team were Clisby, who Jack Brabham about its use.” designed and drew the engine, Alec Baldwin, By late 1961 Coventry Climax and BRM had V8s a machinist, along with Kevin Drage as Project which proved dominant from 1962. That year Colin Engineer, who was given specific responsibility for Chapman raised the bar with his first moderndesign of the pistons, con-rods, water pump and monocoque Lotus 25.

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Clisby V6 in original specifications; short inlet trumpets on bespoke Clisby carbs and wet sump. Note twin-plug heads fired via distributors driven off the back of the camshafts.

Clisby wasn’t fussed by these goings on in faraway Europe, his factory cellar was full of partially complete projects.

“Harold didn’t have much formal education, leaving school at the end of year seven but he was a brilliant intuitive engineer, he had an innate feel for it, excellent recall and was a great draftsman. He drew the engine.”

Harold’s projects were a journey, designing and building them in-house was what floated his boat, rather than getting the engine onto the grid quickly which was the competition essential.

Production of the nitrogen hardened steel crankshaft was indicative of the Clisby-Factor.

“Harold was careful with his pennies and would rather make something in-house than go outside.

De Havilland, in Sydney, could have nitrided the crank but Harold built a nitriding furnace and increased our foundry capacity to cast internally instead. We had no deadline and had routine projects to complete, this was a big part of the reason for the V6’s long gestation period.”

Businessman-racer Andy Brown at Calder in May 1965 (below). Rare action shot of M6548 shows its sleekness and lowness of engine location.

Elfin T100 Clisby ready for its Mallala race debut; note changed exhausts and inlets length (far left).

Cross sectional drawing shows the wide 120-degree layout, on the money in 1960. Wet-sump is unsatisfactory in an F1 engine from both performance and height perspectives.

“Born in Norwood in 1912, Harold’s creative juices, like so many of his and succeeding generations, was fuelled by a Meccano set.”

Photo credits Kevin Drage/archive, James Calder

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Drage fettles at Mallala in 1965. Note monocoque chassis, woodrim wheel and gearshift linkage.

“Even simple things became a drama. The wide engine precluded the use of triple downdraft Webers, but a pair of Weber triples made for Ferrari’s 120-degree V6 would have done the trick. We ordered them and then got a letter from Ferrari’s lawyers claiming proprietary rights to the carbs and 120-degree V6 layout!”

“It didn’t worry Harold though, we designed and cast carburettors which used Weber jets and air-bleeds, but that all took a lot of time.”

As time marched on, and Harold’s distractions, it was only Drage’s persistence which kept the engine progressing.

He discussed the possibility of four-time Australian GP winner Lex Davison funding an Elfin Mono into which the Clisby V6 would be fitted for Gold Star use, then a 2.5-litre formula.

Simultaneously, local racer and AGP competitor Andy Brown spoke to Harold about using the engine. This left Kevin the embarrassing task of “telling Lex we couldn’t proceed with him. He did in fact order and pay a deposit on a Mono which was cancelled after he suffered a heart attack and died while practicing for the 1965 Sandown Tasman Cup round.”

With Brown’s chassis order placed, Garrie Cooper commenced work on Mono chassis #M6548 in late 1964. Primary changes to the already successful design involved making the sides of the aluminium monocoque chassis shallower in the engine bay to accommodate the low, wide V6 rather than the four-cylinder Ford pushrod and twin-cam engines usually fitted to Monos.

Initial testing of the engine took place in the factory back yard. Mounted on a solid stand, with a slave battery and total loss cooling via a garden hose, Harold manned the throttles as his baby burst into sonorous life, bringing a touch of the Maranello engine-shop to Prospect!

The Clisby crew became aware that local racer and garage proprietor Doug Jarvis had a new Heenan & Froude GB4 dyno which hadn’t been installed. Harold borrowed it from him, shortly thereafter the dyno was up and running in Clisby’s Teringie back yard. Quite what the neighbours thought about the hills being alive with the sound of V6 music is unrecorded; a steam train in the grounds was one thing, a Grand Prix engine on-song was quite another!

Even this wasn’t simple, “Unfortunately the dyno only ran up to 6000rpm, so I had to make an epicyclic gearbox to accommodate the higher rpm of the V6,” Drage recalled.

Finally, 4½ years after Harold commenced drawing, the team gathered for the Elfin Clisby’s first test at Mallala on Sunday March 14, 1965.

The group surrounding the beautiful white, green and gold striped car were a tad underthe-weather. The evening before, the engine’s designer was married, Harold looked on nervously while Drage made last minute checks.

Kevin grabbed Andy Brown’s helmet so he could slide into the car but the wealthy industrialist responded, “It’s your engine” – “but it’s your car” Kevin said, “No, I insist you drive first”.

It was a fantastic mark of respect to Drage, his dogged persistence ensured the engine was finished and raced long after Harold had moved on. Kevin gently blipped the Clisby triplechoke throttle to 3000 rpm, then eased himself into the car.

The gearbox used a Volkswagen case, but the five-speed transmission was made by Elfin. The amazing thing about the car is that its engine, chassis, transaxle and other parts were Australian; even the aluminium Cooper Proud parent, Drage with his charge at Edwardstown as the engine is mated to the ‘bathtub’ monocoque. Note rear bulkhead, drive donuts, and location of oil filter.

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Top and bottom shots. M6548 just finished, glistening in the sun outside Elfin’s Edwardstown factory prior to the first Mallala test in March 1965. Note makeshift stack exhausts.

Centre. Dyno, not ready, no problem, let’s fire ‘her up out the back! Harold wearing the tie and Drage at left on the V6’ first run in 1964.

“He discussed the possibility of four-time Australian GP winner Lex Davison funding an Elfin Mono into which the Clisby V6 would be fitted for Gold Star use, then a 2.5-litre formula.”

Engine ready for test on the borrowed Heenan and Froude dyno set up in a shed at Clisby’s home; neighbour’s thoughts are un-recorded! used for his chassis was made from bauxite mined in Western Australia, and alumina refined in Geelong.

The car coughed and spluttered before gathering speed towards the right hander at the end of Mallala’s Pit Straight. Drage’s body struggled with the enormity of the occasion, but the initial laps were incident free.

Brown then slid aboard and was impressed with the engine’s power, after 6 laps he pulled in. Kevin recalled, “The engine idled quickly and then suddenly started to vibrate so much that the Rose joint on the rear anti-roll bar disintegrated into pieces, then the engine stopped. I pulled off a distributor cap, the high frequency vibrations had shattered the rotor to powder, it was unbelievable!”

Another local engineer/racer, Eldred Norman, and friend of Harold and Andy was looking on.

He questioned Harold and determined that while the 120-degree engine was in static balance, the crank hadn’t been dynamically balanced. “No problem, I’ll see you tomorrow morning, just have the crank drawing ready for me to look at,” said Eldred.

Norman called in at the factory the following morning – a converted stately home – and worked out where balance weights were needed. “We modified the pulley to drive the dry-sump pump, this was used as a counterweight too, and we re-balanced the flywheel.”

While work on the V6 proceeded, in Melbourne the other Australian F1 engine was progressing a good deal more. While Repco Ltd was a global transnational no dual World Championship engine was ever gained so cheap, Repco’s resources were as vast as Clisby’s miniscule.

Repco Brabham Engines’ F1/Tasman 2.5-litre V8 fired its first shot on the Russell Manufacturing, Richmond dyno on March 26, 1965. Phil Irving commenced his engine, expedited by using an aluminium Oldsmobile F85 production block, in early 1964.

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The potent Elfin Clisby was finally ready and entered at the April 19 Mallala Easter meeting.

20,500 people was an amazing crowd, plenty went just to see the exotic home-town car.

Andy warmed up the crowd in the pits, blipping the throttle to 5,000 rpm but the 20-lap feature was a disaster. Brown had a Dunlop blow at high speed on the curved Back Straight removing the Elfin’s rear suspension in the process.

Repaired at Elfins, the small equipe then headed for Calder for a LucasDavison ANF 1½ litre championship round on May 23.

Brown qualified well mid-grid alongside future F1 driver, Tim Schenken’s Lotus 18. Despite pouring rain, and therefore sympathetic throttle applications, the engine developed a misfire.

“Rather than go straight back to Adelaide, we then ran it on (local racer/ engineer and Elfin dealer) Jack Hunnam’s Melbourne dyno.

The misfire was traced to coolant leaking through porous head castings, this was a major problem to solve,” Drage ruefully recalled.

“We rebuilt the engine with new heads and set off to Mallala on June 14, but the Elfin’s South Australian Road Racing Championship (Gold Star) meeting was over before it started when it popped an oil-line in practice. It was a big disappointment; luck was against us.”

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Drage, Clisby and Baldwin and engine components in a posed press shot circa 1964 (top).

Elfin chief, Garrie Cooper, and longtime welder Fulvio Mattiolo ponder M6548’s next step, unique in the T100/mono 19 car production run (above).

Clisby Engineering were small but the V6 was beautifully, designed, built and finished. Note throttle linkages (below).

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Harold Clisby aboard his Clisby Douglas hillclimb special in 1952.

Some of James Calder’s unmachined Clisby V6 components, completion challenge is high, but underway (top).

Kevin Drage in the T100 Clisby, Calder paddock in May 1965 (above) By 1964 Clisby’s engineering imagination extended to this 500cc module - four 125cc 2-stroke engines - of a planned 24-cylinder 3-litre 2-stroke F1 engine! (right) ‘Clisby Castle’, 1.62ha at Teringie, (below right) had a dungeon, catacombs, a tower and a cannon to keep Ferrari’s lawyers at bay. A railway in the garden as well.

The machine finally started a Gold Star round at Mallala on October 11.

Bib Stillwell won that race in his Brabham BT11A Climax, while Andy had the engine lock solid on the main straight after only eight laps, gyrating from side to side and coming to rest gently in the dusty infield.

With that, the Clisby V6 engine was removed from the Mono and set aside at Prospect, it never fired a shot in anger again Somewhat ironically, the final 1.5-litre F1 championship race was run and won at Mexico City, by Richie Ginther’s Honda RA272 a fortnight later, on October 24, 1965. That stunning Honda, powered by a transversely mounted 1.5-litre fuel injected V12, showed just how far the F1 game had advanced from October 1960 when Clisby first put pencil to paper, and March 1965 when it ran at Mallala.

“Any chance of contesting ANF 1½ events was scuttled when CAMS (Motorsport Australia) told Harold the engine wasn’t welcome among the Lotus-Ford twin-cam fours. It was impossible to increase the engine’s capacity much, so a Tasman or sportscar motor wasn’t feasible,” quipped Drage.

It was a great shame, the 2.5-litre Tasman Formula endured until 1970. BRM and Climax V8s proved that a good, light engine could win races at circa 2-litres.

With development the Clisby V6 could have been a good Tasman Cup contender at about that capacity.

There was a happy ending though. The steep Clisby V6 learning curve and manufacturing capabilities played a critical role in the Brabham BT24 Repco 740 3-litre V8’s 1967 F1 championship wins.

Drage made regular business trips to Melbourne, he usually swung through Maidstone on the way back to Adelaide to call on Phil Irving. The much decorated, internationally credentialled engineer was

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then Repco Brabham Engines senior engineer and designer/draftsman of the RBE620 1966 championship winning V8 in its entirety (base Olds F85 block duly noted).

In mid-1966 Drage called past but found Phil had left after a disagreement (or been fired depending upon the account you believe) with Frank Hallam, RBE’s General Manager. “After Hallam conducted my factory tour I showed him some quad-cam Ford heads we had made (for the Globe Industries backed, Drage designed Globe-Ford 289 V8). He wanted timelines to cast their 1967 40 Series heads, ours were less than Sterling Metals in the UK – who had made the 1966 20 series heads – so we got the chance, I was over the moon!”

Clisbys produced Repco’s 30, 40, 50 and 60 Series F1/Tasman/Indy/Sportscar heads, over one hundred in all. In so doing they played a part in winning the F1 Manufacturers and Drivers Championships for Motor Racing Developments/Brabham and Denny Hulme in 1967, and many other races.

The Repco contract wouldn’t have been awarded without the steep Clisby learnings in complex, lightweight casting, foundry practices in preceding years.

The only Clisby V6 lived for a long while at the Sporting Car Club of South Australia in Unley. On one famous occasion – before giving a presentation to members – Harold fired it up amongst the high-ceiling Victorian oak panelled splendour.

Imagine a works Lancia Stratos V6 firing up in your old local pub! This occasion is still spoken about in reverential terms by those lucky enough to be present.

Elfin Mono #6548 was fitted with a Cosworth-Ford engine and raced on. Decades passed.

“Various enthusiasts dreamed of uniting the car and engine until Adelaide’s Peter Bail got Clisby family support to use the V6 on loan. This allowed the chassis to be purchased from its long-term owner, but the engine agreement was later rescinded, so in 2015 Peter sold the project to me,” recalls current custodian, Victorian Elfin enthusiast/racer James Calder.

Detective work over a decade allowed Adelaide born, Melbourne domiciled James to purchase

unused engine components auctioned when Clisby Industries was sold. These comprised an unmachined block, heads, gear-case, cam-covers, crankshaft and rods, plus patterns and moulds.

Calder has progressed the chassis and engine ancillaries with the assistance of Kevin Drage who is as sharp as a tack at 86 years of age.

The task is huge, with teenage kids and a growing global business as distractions, but James’ is determined. “The dream is for Australian Gold Star Champion John Bowe to run the Elfin Clisby in the Goodwood Revival Meeting soon,” James says with a huge smile of delight at the prospect of the car running again after 55 years.

The Elfin Clisby V6 is a footnote in mighta-been F1 history, but it has a familial link to the ’67 World Champ Repco 740 engine, two Australian engines conceived and built 750 kilometres apart 55 years ago.

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Formula 1

Round 20 Qatar Grand Prix

DESERT DOMINATION Lewis Hamilton’s victory in Qatar cut Max Verstappen’s championship lead from 14 points to 8 points. But the weekend was full of drama off track and tyres played their part...

Report: Dan Knutson Images: Motorsport Images LEWIS HAMILTON was faultless as he qualified his Mercedes on pole and led every lap of the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix. It was his 102nd pole in F1 and his 102nd win. It came just one week after he won in Brazil.

“It’s been a hell of a year so to be at this point of the season and have back-to-back wins is a great feeling,” he said. “It was a pretty straight forward race for me, a little bit lonely but of course, we needed those points, so a really solid job by the team. A big thank you to everyone trackside and back at the factories for all their hard work. I’m really grateful for these points and it’s amazing to be able to close the gap so much in the last two weeks. We’ve still got our work cut out, but we’re loving such a close battle and the challenge that it brings.”

Title rival Max Verstappen qualified his Red Bull second. But he lined up seventh after getting a five-place grid penalty for not slowing down in the final moments of qualifying when double yellow flags were displayed for Pierre Gasly’s stranded AlphaTauri.

Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas qualified third but started sixth after getting a three-place grid penalty for not slowing down in the final moments of qualifying when a single yellow flag was displayed for Pierre Gasly’s stranded AlphaTauri.

The result of all of this was that the top 10 on the grid were: Hamilton, Gasly, Fernando Alonso (Alpine), Lando Norris (McLaren), Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), Bottas, Verstappen, Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin).

Things got a bit congested in Turn 1 at the start of the 57-lap race, but Hamilton swept into the lead ahead of Alonso, Gasly, Verstappen, Norris, Ocon and Sainz.

Verstappen was on the move forwards, and at the start of lap 5 he took second place from Alonso.

At the end of lap 6 Verstappen was 3.7 seconds behind leader Hamilton.

Hamilton and Verstappen constantly swapped fastest lap times.

Verstappen never got close enough to challenge Hamilton for the lead.

Verstappen pitted at the end of lap 17 to switch from the medium compound Pirellis to the hard compound tyres. Hamilton did the same one lap later. The gap between leader Hamilton and Verstappen was now around eight seconds.

Bottas’ left front tyre had a blowout on lap 31. That made some teams weary of doing the race with just one pitstop. Verstappen pitted at the end of lap 41 for a set of the medium compound Pirellis. Hamilton again did the same one lap later.

Norris had been running fourth behind Alonso, but his left front tyre was deflating and he had to pit for tyres at the end lap 50. That dropped him to ninth place. Nicolas Latifi had his left front tyre blowout, and that triggered the Virtual Safety Car on lap 54 so that the marshals could safely remove his Williams from the side of the track.

“We tried to make the one-stop work knowing that it would be on the limit with tyres,” he said, “but we thought we could manage it as a strategy call. The surprising thing was that I had no idea that the tyre was

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Lewis has a new tribute helmet design with an important message.

Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso battled during the race, with a late pitstop to try and set fastest lap, Perez missed the podium.

Nicholas Latifi, Williams FW43B, heads into retirement with damage after a puncture on his left front tyre.

about to suffer a puncture, so unfortunately, we weren’t able to adjust our strategy in time.”

Verstappen already had the fastest race lap and the point that goes with it. But he pitted for a set of the soft Pirellis at the end of lap 55. The VSC ended at the start

of lap 56, and Verstappen knocked off another fastest lap.

“This weekend has been quite difficult for us as a team,” he said after finishing second, “and we are still lacking pace, I tried everything I could after the

Another dust up as Lewis Hamilton leads Pierre Gasly off the front row and Fernando Alonso off row two at the start of the Grand Prix.

Daniel Ricciardo (right) had fuel consumption software issues with his McLaren and had another race to forget .

2021 QATAR GRAND PRIX 57 LAPS Pos Driver

Team

Laps Margin

1

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

57

2

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing

57

+25.743s

3

Fernando Alonso

Alpine

57

+59.457s

4

Sergio Perez

Red Bull Racing

57

+62.306s

5

Esteban Ocon

Alpine

57

+80.570s

6

Lance Stroll

Aston Martin

57

+81.274s

7

Carlos Sainz Jr.

Ferrari

57

+81.911s

8

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

57

+81.126s

9

Lando Norris

McLaren

56

+1 lap

10 Sebastian Vettel

Aston Martin

56

+1 lap

11 Pierre Gasly

AlphaTauri

56

+1 lap

12 Daniel Ricciardo

McLaren

56

+1 lap

13 Yuki Tsunoda

AlphaTauri

56

+1 lap

14 Kimi Raikkonen

Alfa Romeo Racing

56

+1 lap

15 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing

56

+1 lap

16 Mick Schumacher Haas

Ferrari 56 +1 lap

Two Champions and nine World Chapionship wins between them... Alonso enjoyed a well deserved return to the podium, while Max was at his best to come home second after being penalised and starting down the order.

17 George Russell

Williams

55

+2 laps

18 Nikita Mazepin

Haas

55

+2 laps

five-place grid penalty so to finish in second and score the fastest lap is really good. I had an exciting start and I knew that the first few laps were really important, I had a good launch and I was fairly quickly back into second place, from there I tried to keep the gap small and that worked out quite well.”

Alonso made a one-stopper work, and he finished third. It was Alonso’s first F1 podium since the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix.

“We deserved this result as a team and I’ve had to wait seven years since my last one,” he said.

“Hopefully we don’t need to wait this long again!

We took some risks with the one-stop strategy but it

DNF Nicholas Latifi

Williams

Retirement

DNF Valtteri Bottas

Mercedes

Retirement

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worked out well.”

This was the 900th F1 world championship race for the team founded by Kiwi Bruce McLaren in 1966.

But it was not a memorable race for Aussie Daniel Ricciardo who finished 12th. He never really got into the groove of the track, and he spent much of the race trying to save fuel due to a software glitch.

“We ran into some issues with fuel, and we had to save which dictated our race,” he said. “So, not sure what happened but we obviously need to look into it.

I’m looking forward to moving on. I think a weekend off is necessary for everyone involved. We’ll debrief now, and try to understand the issues today.”

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Points: Verstappen 351.5, Hamilton 343.5, Bottas 203, Perez 190, Norris 153, Leclerc 152, Sainz Jr. 145.5, Ricciardo 105, Gasly 92, Alonso 77, Ocon 60, Vettel 43, Stroll 34, Tsunoda 20, Russell 16, Raikkonen 10, Latifi 7, Giovinazzi 1 Constructors’: Mercedes 546.5, Red Bull Racing 541.5, Ferrari 297.5, McLaren 258, Renault 137, AlphaTauri 112, Aston Martin-Mercedes 77, Williams 23, Alfa Romeo Racing 11, Haas 0

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INTERNATIONAL

OGIER CLAIMS EIGHTH WRC TITLE

SEBASTIEN OGIER is an eight-time World Rally Champion after winning the season finale in Italy alongside co-driver Julien Ingrassia.

In his final event as a full-time WRC driver, Ogier triumphed over Toyota Gazoo Racing teammate Elfyn Evans to wrap up the title emphatically at Rally Monza.

There were multiple lead changes over the course of the rally, but a spin from Evans in the penultimate stage proved to be the difference.

Ogier had a moment of his own, rubbing his tyre against a concrete barrier, but still managed to finish 7.3s clear at the front in his

Yaris World Rally Car. Their 1-2 finish completed a clean sweep of the major titles as Toyota also secured the manufacturers’ honours for the first time since 2018 after winning nine of the 12 rounds.

The final gap between Ogier and Evans in the season standings was 23 points.

“I just feel kind of empty right now because it’s always an exhausting season,” Ogier said.

“We give so much into it.

I really need to go to every single team member and give them my big thanks, because without them we are nothing.

“They are world

champions today as well, we are manufacturer, driver and co-driver champions.”

Dani Sordo completed the podium at Monza in a Hyundai i20, finishing 14s behind Evans to climb to sixth in the season rankings.

Belgian Thierry Neuville held the position until the second day, when he spun into a barrier and fell back to fourth.

The Hyundai man would finish there, securing third spot in the final standings.

Oliver Solberg was fifth, scoring a career-best finish in the final round of the season.

Teemu Suninen equalled his best finish of the year in sixth, while Takamoto Katsuta came home seventh

after spinning into a barrier with one stage remaining.

Gus Greensmith was the first Ford driver to cross the line, finishing eighth in his Fiesta.

Kalle Rovanpera was a further 2m back in ninth in the pursuit of a clean run for Hyundai, locking up fourth individually.

WRC3 winner Andrea Crugnola completed the top 10 in an i20 N Rally2.

WRC will usher in a new era next year, welcoming hybrid powered Rally1 cars to replace the current generation of World Rally car after 25 seasons.

The 2022 season kicks off in Monte Carlo on January 20. Josh Nevett

EHRLACHER EARNS SECOND WTCR CROWN YANN EHRLACHER became 2021 World Touring Car Cup Champion at Sochi Autodrom, securing his second consecutive title in Russia with midfield race finishes.

Ehrlacher wrapped up season honours in the first of two races with a sixth-place finish, before repeating the dose in Race 2 as victory celebrations began.

Mikel Azcona and Robert Huff were race winners in the season finale, taking the season tally to 12 separate victors from 16 outings.

Azcona snatched victory on the final lap in Race 1, surging past Jean-Karl Vernay in his Zengo Motorsport CUPRA Leon Competicion to win from eighth on the grid.

Vernay came home second in front of Frederic Vervisch, who crossed the line third but was demoted to sixth after a penalty in his Comtoyou Team Audi Sport Audi RS3 LMS. Vervisch’s teammate Gilles Magnus

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was promoted to third, completing the podium.

Nathaniel Berthon was fourth, 4.492s off the leader.

Ehrlacher drove in a measured manner in wet conditions, staying out of trouble to finish fifth and subsequently guarantee his season triumph provisionally.

Attila Tassi, Yvan Muller, Santiago Urrutia and Thed Bjork rounded out the top 10.

Huff was a surprise winner in Race 2, bettering his best season result by eight places in a chaotic close to the season.

Vervisch and Berthon claimed the other podium positions in a pair of Audi’s.

Tassi and and Vernay were fourth and fifth in Honda and Hyundai machinery, ahead of champion Ehrlacher.

Nestor Girolami, Norbert Michelisz, Tom Coronel and Luca Englester

rounded out the top 10.

Santiago Urrutia, Yvan Muller, Gabriele Tarquini and Azcona headlined the long list of drivers that were forced to retire in the final race, several incidents ruling their cars out of contention. Josh Nevett Points: Ehrlacher 223, Vervisch 195, Vernay 177, Muller 169, Urrutia 167

BIKES

GARDNER PUSHES THROUGH PAIN BARRIER AUSSIE ROOKIE Remy Gardner shrugged off a first day rib complaint to clock up welcome track time in MotoGP World Championship post-season testing at Jerez Circuit, while Francesco Bagnaia and Takaaki Nakagami set the best times on each day.

Takaaki Nakagami topped the time sheets and Remy Gardner was left sore after the first day of testing in southern Spain, the former clocking a 1m 37.313s on the brand-new Honda RC213V bike to close out the day on top.

In his second official MotoGP test with the KTM satellite Tech3 outfit, Gardner aggravated an existing rib injury while riding his machine, forcing him to take a conservative approach in his riding.

The 23-year-old clocked a 1m 40.170s, the 24th fastest time on the day.

Speaking after the first day, Gardner explained that it was a difficult day at the office.

“In the morning I was starting to feel pretty good with the bike and starting to improve a little bit,” Gardner said.

“During a fast change of direction pulling on the bike, on the handlebars, one of my ribs popped and cracked big time and started to really hurt.

“In the end I took some painkillers and tried to finish off the day trying to run a bit smoother, but it’s been a painful day riding.

“I don’t want to be crashing at the moment, I’m tender.”

Regardless, the promoted Australian appreciated the experience on a top-tier bike.

“It was a fun day,” Gardner said.

“The power is pretty gnarly.

“I knew what was coming from the tests in Misano but the brakes as well are crazy.

“The electronics are another big thing that I’m trying to wrap my head around.

“I’ve still got plenty of days to go and

just want to finish the season in one piece at this point.”

Australian countryman Jack Miller was also in action with the factory Ducati team, setting the eighth fastest time of the day just ahead of 2021 Champion Fabio Quartararo.

The Queenslander had a new engine to himself for the day, completing 61 laps.

Nakagami headed Ducati’s Johann Zarco by 0.043s, who completed the second most laps of any rider (78).

Enea Bastianini was third fastest on a windy day in southern Spain.

Bagnaia was just outside the top three, lapping fourth fastest on Day 1.

Maverick Vinales put in a strong session with his new team Aprilia Racing, setting a 1m 37.674s.

Bagnaia set the best lap time on the second and final day of testing at Jerez, continuing his strong form.

The factory Ducati rider clocked a 1m 36.872s, 0.452s quicker than the

nearest competitor on the day.

Gardner shrugged off the rib woes he experienced on Day 1 to complete 64 laps, ranking 22nd on the time sheets at the conclusion of proceedings.

Miller fared better on his Ducati bike, extracting a 1m 37.717s lap from 39 completions of the circuit to sit ninth.

Joining Bagnaia among the frontrunners was Quartararo, who recorded the second fastest time of the day on his factory Yamaha.

Alex Rins improved from his ranking on Day 1, completing the top three.

Across the board, lap times were similar to the day before, however Bagnaia was the clear standout and significantly quicker than first day leader Nakagami.

As he continues his return from injury, Pol Espargaro made strong gains to lap fourth fastest.

Vinales was once again the fastest Aprilia rider, slotting into fifth on Day 2 and eighth overall. Josh Nevett

RAZGATLIOGLU ENDS REA’S REIGN Toprak Razgatlioglu broke Jonathan Rea’s streak of six consecutive Superbike World Championship titles at Mandalika International Street Circuit, securing his triumph with a podium finish in Race 1 of the final round.

The Yamaha rider came home fourth in the final encounter, emerging with a 13-point standings gap as he secured a maiden title in the season finale.

Subsequently Razgatlioglu became the third youngest Champion of all time, behind James

Toseland and Troy Corser.

Rea won both races in Indonesia, but it was not enough to bridge the gap to his Turkish rival.

Despite concluding in the first race of the weekend, the battle for the title was hot between the reigning champion and young challenger.

Razgatlioglu and Rea traded positions at the front of the field several times in the season-defining race, while Scott Redding and Axel Bassani also spent periods in the lead. ‘ Rea was on the right side of the final lead change on lap 16 at Turn 10 but it was all about Razgatlioglu when he made the title-winning overtake for second on lap 18 at Turn 1.

Behind the two contenders, Redding sewed up third in the championship with a podium finish in Race 1.

Bassani looked likely for a podium early and briefly led the race, but he fell away late on to finish fifth behind countryman Andre Locatelli, who made up ground as track conditions continued to improve after earlier rain.

BMW rider Michael van der Mark was sixth ahead of outgoing Team HRC rider Alvaro Bautista,

who fought off the challenge of Chaz Davies.

2021 marks Davies’ last season in World SBK, after nearly 10 years in the category including three as runner-up to Rea. Argentinean rider Leandro Mercado claimed ninth place, beating Tom Sykes who rounded out the top 10.

It was Rea and Redding who fought it out for the win in the final race, Rea eventually taking the honours in a shortened 12-lap affair.

The result was in contention until Turn 16 of the final lap, when Redding went up the inside of Rea but ran wide and lost the lead for the final time.

Bassani was again among the frontrunners, however he crashed out on lap 4 in an incident with van der Mark.

The latter went on to claim a podium finish, while the newly crowned champion Razgatlioglu finished fourth.

As a result, Razgatlioglu secured the Manufacturers’ Championship for Yamaha for only the second time in addition to the riders’ and teams’ titles.

Tom Sykes wrapped up his time at BMW with a top five finish in the wet conditions, 3s clear of Garrett Gerloff.

Kohta Nozane achieved a

season-best finish of seventh, closing out his rookie season on a high note.

Locatelli finished eighth to claim fourth in the championship standings, moving up the rankings after Michael Ruben Rinaldi crashed out of the race.

The Italian rider was taken to hospital post-race after being diagnosed with a cervical strain.

Isaac Vinales also finished his rookie season positively, taking a best result of ninth. Bautista completed the top 10.

Josh Nevett Points: Razgatlioglu 564, Rea 551, Redding 501, Locatelli 291, Rinaldi 282

Supercars RACE REPORT

Round 11 - Sydney Motorsport Park

This was the scene for the start of race 30 which was the final race at SMP. With the Bathurst 1000 event close, teams and officials were nervous that lots of damage could happen, so the very wet race was cancelled.

GREAT RACE, NO RACE, GIZZY CHAMP WET WEATHER WAS PREDICTED THROUGHOUT THE 11TH ROUND OF THE SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP AND WHILE IT MADE SATURDAY’S RACE A CLASSIC, IT CAUSED SUNDAY’S ENCOUNTER TO BE CANNED. Report: Dan McCarthy

Images: Motorsport Images-Mark Horsburgh/Supercars Media

FOR THE fourth consecutive week Supercars Championship action took place at Sydney Motorsport Park, however this time over two, 250km races.

If the racing was dry competitors would be forced to run two sets of hard tyres and a set of the supersoft tyres in both 250km races.

One catch was that prior to Saturday’s race the teams would not be allowed to run a single lap on the much softer compound.

CO-DRIVER SESSION – NON-CODRIVER ON TOP GROVE RACING Junior Matthew Payne was the fastest driver in the co-driver practice session driving the David Reynolds car instead of actual co-driver Luke Youlden.

With quite fresh soft tyres Payne set the

fastest time of the session, but only just.

The man tipped to join the team full-time in 2022 was 0.08s faster than former Supercars race winner Lee Holdsworth and Kurt Kostecki.

Notably, both Dick Johnson Racing and Triple Eight race Engineering drivers were outside of the top 10. Alex Davison was 12th and Tony D’Alberto ended up in 17th.

Reigning Bathurst 1000 winner Garth Tander in car #97 ended up in 22nd ahead of Craig Lowndes in a session that was mainly about the age of the tyre.

PRACTICE – DE PASQUALE SHOWS HAND ONCE MORE ALTHOUGH ANTON De Pasquale set the fastest time in both regular practice sessions it was a case of who had the freshest tyres.

In Friday’s night session De Pasquale

set a 1m 29.95s time, 0.27s clear of Brodie Kostecki, Chaz Mostert, Jack Le Brocq and Cameron Waters.

Jamie Whincup was in sixth, while overnight his championship leading teammate Shane van Gisbergen was buried in 19th position and was concerned about his pace.

Practice 2 first thing on Saturday morning saw van Gisbergen’s concerns extinguished, he ended up in third behind De Pasquale and Will Brown.

Blanchard Racing driver Tim Slade was fourth ahead of Kostecki, Will Davison and Whincup in a session that was a little more representative.

QUALIFYING RACE 29 – OVER HALF A SECOND DE PASQUALE showed scintillating form in qualifying for Race 29, once again taking pole position.

The Victorian was not only fastest in the Top 10 Shootout but also in the provisional session.

In the end he topped the session by 0.5s from Triple Eight Race Engineering driver van Gisbergen, Whincup and Davison.

Notably Tickford star Cameron Waters snuck in by 0.046s leaving Tim Slade in 11th position ahead of 2014 Bathurst 1000 winner Mostert. Recent winner Brown was a surprise, qualifying in 16th.

In the Top 10 Shootout, De Pasquale and Whincup were a staggering 0.8s up on the rest of the field.

Van Gisbergen struggled from understeer, oversteer and locking rear brakes and resulted in him qualifying fourth.

De Pasquale held his nerve going out last to take pole position from Whincup, while Will Davison rounded out the top three.

Brodie Kostecki, Todd Hazelwood,

Nick Percat was in great form in the wet and qualified on pole for race 30 by nearly half a second.

Whincup survived a big off in qualifying, the damage was repaired in time for him to take part in the top ten shootout.

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PITSTOP

This was the scene in the Red Bull garage as the decision makers in Supercars, led by CEO Sean Seamer and racing boss Adrian Burgess, talked to Shane van Gisbergen about a drift lap celebration for the frustrated television audience on Sunday afternoon in Sydney.

Jamie Whincup has always used slip-on rubber ‘booties’ to protect his racing boots in wet weather but Chaz Mostert took things to a new level during the rain-lashed final weekend at Sydney Motorsport Park. His shoe protectors are more like Antarctic snow boots, with all-over cover that covers the bottom of his fire suit as well as his driving boots.

Cam Waters and Chaz Mostert both completed experimental laps of the full 4.5-kilometre Brabham circuit during the extended Supercars visit to Sydney Motorsport Park. They were given the job

by Supercars’ motorsport department after the longer layout was previously considered too tight and narrow for racing. Neither driver was allowed to comment on their thoughts.

Nick Percat, Jack le Brocq, Waters and Scott Pye rounded out the top 10.

RACE 29 – A TRUE CLASSIC RAIN WAS expected to arrive during Race 29 of the Supercars Championship, but when it would come remained to be seen.

As a result, five cars elected to start of the Supersoft compound, Pye, Zane Goddard, Reynolds and most notably both Triple Eight Race Engineering Commodores of Whincup and van Gisbergen.

At the start of the race on the Supersoft tyres Whincup managed to vault himself into the lead.

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RESULTS RACE 29 SMP 64 LAPS

The Supersoft tyre runners were quickly making their way to the front, on lap 2 at Turn 3 van Gisbergen breezed by De Pasquale.

By the end of lap 5 Whincup led van Gisbergen, De Pasquale, Pye and Goddard.

De Pasquale would lose a further two places over the next two laps, losing out to Goddard just seconds before the safety car was called.

On lap 7 Macauley Jones’ engine blew exiting Turn 8 and he was forced to bring his car to rest on the side of the track.

All drivers elected to pit under safety car and this meant that many cars had to double stack behind their teammates.

This proved costly for van Gisbergen who found himself buried in the field and had already used the soft tyre.

The pack had been shuffled greatly, Whincup now led Pye, De Pasquale, Goddard, Reynolds, Brodie Kostecki, Mostert, Waters and van Gisbergen.

All three Tickford Racing cars Waters, le Brocq and James Courtney along with Brown and Bryce Fullwood chose to run the soft tyres in the second stint.

The restart was on lap 10, and from eighth, it took Waters just over two laps to march to the front.

On lap 13 le Brocq made his way to second and Brown third on lap 14.

The race settled into a rhythm as the softer tyre runners took off into the distance.

On the hard tyres De Pasquale lacked the pace that he had shown in previous weekends, he was soon overtaken by van Gisbergen on lap 22.

Supersoft runner Le Brocq pitted on lap 33, the first driver to pit after the critical lap number and meant he would not have to stop again.

He was followed in a lap later by Waters, before the rest of the field began to follow suit.

While the Tickford cars and Brown fitted the hard compound tyres, the rest of the field put the supersofts on.

At the end of lap 44 van Gisbergen pitted and put the supersoft tyres on with which he started the race and re-joined well down the pack in 10th position.

Whincup followed his teammate in a lap later and created a fascinating race ending chase down.

With all compulsory pitstops out of the way Waters led Brown and le Brocq, while the soft tyre runners led by Brodie Kostecki, Mostert, van Gisbergen, De Pasquale and Whincup were hunting them down.

The Erebus Commodores looked good, Brown had slashed Waters leading margin down, while Kostecki fired up the inside to take third on lap 54.

With 10 laps remaining van Gisbergen sat 17s behind the race leader, but rain was starting to fall, a benefit for drivers on the softer rubber which offered much more grip.

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Further forwards, Brown got the leading margin down to 0.8s by the end of lap 58.

A mistake from his teammate Kostecki at Turn 1 allowed Chaz Mostert to take third position.

Van Gisbergen caught up to the hard tyre runners with five laps to go and calved through them like a hot knife through butter.

They all tried to put up a resistance to both van Gisbergen and Whincup, but it was of little use as the weather continued to worsen, with limited laps remaining however it was not worth the switch to wets.

On lap 62 van Gisbergen made the race winning move on Waters at the exit of the Turn 8 hairpin.

At the end of the race Van Gisbergen took the win by 1s from team mate Whincup, yet another T8 1-2, Waters held onto third by just 0.39s from De Pasquale.

De Pasquale overtook Mostert on the final lap and just missed out on a podium, Mostert was fifth, pipping Pye by 0.13s.

When the rain fell Brown fell to seventh just ahead of Kostecki, Davison and Percat.

QUALIFYING RACE 30 – PERCAT TAKES IT PERCAT MASTERED the tricky conditions on Sunday in the Top 10 Shootout to take his second career Supercars pole position.

He was in a league of his own 0.4s faster than Kiwi van Gisbergen, Reynolds, Slade, Hazelwood, Team Sydney’s Fabian Coulthard.

Notably both DJR cars missed out, Davison by less than 0.1s while De Pasquale qualified down in 17th.

Pos Driver 1 Shane van Gisbergen 2 Jamie Whincup 3 Cameron Waters 4 Anton De Pasquale 5 Chaz Mostert 6 Scott Pye 7 Will Brown 8 Brodie Kostecki 9 Will Davison 10 Nick Percat 11 Jack Le Brocq 12 Mark Winterbottom 13 Tim Slade 14 Todd Hazelwood 15 Andre Heimgartner 16 Jack Smith 17 David Reynolds 18 Jake Kostecki 19 Zane Goddard 20 James Courtney 21 Fabian Coulthard 22 Garry Jacobson 23 Bryce Fullwood DNF Macauley Jones

Margin 64 laps +1.110s +5.179s +5.570s +6.076s +6.203s +7.609s +8.879s +10.961s +13.152s +15.677s +18.575s +21.852s +25.734s +26.246s +28.284s +30.804s +33.065s +34.744s +41.536s +72.972s +73.521s +86.135s +59 Laps

s3 0 s6 t3 s7 s4 s9 t3 t6 t3 t3 s1 t2 t8 s4 s4 0 s4 t4 s3 s3 t4 t9

Points: van Gisbergen 2828, Whincup 2479, Davison 2233, Mostert 2194, Waters 2093, De Pasquale 2075, Percat 1804, Brown 1748, Winterbottom 1611, B Kostecki 1530, Pye 1489, Slade 1459, Courtney 1455, Hazelwood 1419, Heimgartner 1394, le Brocq 1366, Fullwood 1269, Reynolds 1126, Goddard 1088, J Kostecki 1025, Smith 917, Jacobson 877, Jones 850, Coulthard 840.

Race 30 – THE WASHOUT DUE TO significant standing water the race started under safety car conditions, the red flag was called on lap 6 and all cars returned to the lane.

That was that, several minutes later it was announced that the race would not restart and was classed as a no race.

As a result, van Gisbergen’s points advantage was now enough to see him wrap up his second Supercars Championship with a round to spare, Van Gisbergen was also awarded $25,000 for winning the Sydney Cup.

There was plenty to celebrate for the Triple Eight team, during the four weekends of racing at SMP. They took race wins, team 1-2’s, round wins and the $25K Sydney Cup

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SUPERCARS SUPPORTS

SUPER2 SLIP AND SLIDE AT SMP Report: Josh Nevett Images: Insyde Media/Riccardo Benvinuti BROC FEENEY increased his lead at the top of the Super2 Series standings as Tyler Everingham won the only completed race at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Feeney finished second in the first race on Saturday to extend the gap on his rivals, but it was Everingham who made the greatest gains moving to fourth in the standings with a race victory.

It was Declan Fraser who led the way in practice on Friday, however, setting the fastest time across the two sessions in his Matt White Motorsport Nissan Altima.

Fraser set a 1m 30.959s, which only just pipped Feeney in his Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden Commodore VF by 0.07s.

Nissan machines also led the field in qualifying on Saturday, ending up in the top three positions with Jayden Ojeda, Matthew Payne and Fraser at the wheel of each.

Ojeda clocked a 1m 29.970s to earn pole, while Feeney would start from the second row after qualifying fourth fastest.

However, it was Everingham who rose from fifth to triumph after a chaotic start.

Payne’s mission to earn a spot on the Supercars Championship grid for 2022 started in horrible fashion, the Kiwi stalling on the front row despite qualifying well.

All those behind him were forced to swerve and weave past, leaving the Kelly Grove Racing junior last by the time he got moving.

Polesitter Ojeda was also hampered on the first lap, making contact with Feeney before dropping towards the rear of the field.

Tim Blanchard and Zak Best had an

Tyler Everingham showed true skill and determination to hold off Broc Feeney for a race win

exchange of their own, putting a significant dent in the title hopes of the latter.

Everingham avoided the carnage to surge into the lead, sitting pretty until coming under challenge at the climax of the race.

2022 Triple Eight Supercars driver Feeney pushed for a pass, but ultimately came up 0.324s short.

Fraser finished where he started,

completing the podium.

A host of Holden Commodore’s came home behind him, Jordan Boys, Aaron Seton, Angelo Mouzouris and Tony D’Alberto claiming positions four to seven.

Ojeda recovered from a rough start to finish eighth, while Matthew Chahda and Matthew McLean rounded out the top 10.

Round 4 was reduced to a single race on Sunday when the final affair was abandoned after just a few laps in heavy rain.

Starting behind a safety car as the rain tumbled down Best took the lead from Feeney on the main straight.

A lap later Everingham moved by Feeney in his Nissan, before Chahda and Ojeda slid off the circuit onto the grass.

That incident required a second Safety Car, the race restarting on lap 7 of 18.

It all unravelled from there, as Payne and Angelo Mouzouris overshot the first corner, speeding down the drag strip into the tyre barriers.

Both cars were heavily damaged, while Josh Fife also exited the tarmac before recovering on the grass.

The race was called off after the Turn 1 incidents, bringing proceedings to an early conclusion.

Points: Feeney 966, Best 837, Ojeda 831, Everingham 696, Chahda 687

MORRIS EXTENDS SUPER3 ASCENDENCY IN THE Super3 Series, Nash Morris dominated the field to extend his standings advantage.

The Ford Falcon FG driver put himself in a perfect position by topping both qualifying sessions, setting a time that was 2s faster than anyone else in Q2.

In the first race on Saturday Morris made it count, beating series rival Reef McCarthy to take victory.

Blake Fardell completed the podium in a Holden Commodore VE, followed by Michael Anderson and Jim Pollicina.

Elly Morrow was seventh in her first start for Brad Jones Racing.

The second race was abandoned with Morris once again leading the way.

Pollicina met a cruel fate, his Commodore ending in the sand trap as the round drew to an anticlimactic close. JN

Points: Morris 939, McCarthy 885, Anderson 807, Fardell 639, Gomersall 531

It was a big field of Super2 and Super3 cars at SMP, it was a shame the rain had to end some fantastic racing.

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Aaron Cameron showed his skills in another category by winning an S5000 feature race in the wet!

CAMERON’S FLYING START Report: Dan McCarthy Images: Daniel Kalisz-S5000 TCR AUSTRALIA ace Aaron Cameron won the opening round of the revived Tasman Series by taking victory in Sunday’s feature race.

The weekend was full of incidents and accidents and on Sunday rain, and while many of the inaugural S5000 Championship contenders had accidents or suffered mechanical issues.

Former Gold Star winner Tim Macrow took pole position in qualifying from Luis Leeds, the pair were a step above the field.

James Golding and Nathan Herne locked out row two from former F1 driver Roberto Merhi.

Cameron qualified in sixth, while an electrical issue in qualifying meant that Australian Drivers’ champion Joey Mawson would start from the back.

As the lights went out for race 1, Leeds made a slightly better start than Macrow, he tried to take the lead around the outside at turn 1, however was unable to get around the open-wheel veteran.

Herne made a poor start and dropped to ninth while Cameron shot up to fourth.

At Turn 8 two drivers ran wide, rookie Blake Purdie was one and he immediately broke his suspension, while Herne did not suffer immediate consequences.

It was not until he turned into the first corner that his suspension broke and sent him spinning at high speed into the Turn 1 tyre wall.

The safety car was called immediately and remained out until the commencement of lap 6.

Leeds made a great restart and forced Macrow to defend into Turn 1, however again was unable to get by.

Further back Mawson made a rare unforced error, he spun into the Turn 1

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wall and was out of the race.

As a result, the race finished under safety car with Macrow taking the win from Leeds, Golding, Cameron and Merhi.

A 75% qualifying grid inversion for Race 2 meant that Cooper Webster started on pole from Super2 frontrunner Jordan Boys, Purdie, Cameron and Merhi.

From second Boys made a scintillating start and comfortably led into Turn 1.

Cameron again made a great start and continued the momentum around the opening sequence of corners to sit second by Turn 4.

Golding also made a great start and moved up to fourth behind Webster.

On lap 3 Webster ran wide at Turn 1, but managed to keep it in a straight line, the same could not be said for Golding directly behind who spun in front of the pack.

This was great news for Merhi who picked up two free positions.

As the race approached the halfway distance Boys had pulled a margin, while Merhi began to harass Cameron.

On lap 7 at the Turn 8 hairpin Mehri tried a pass around the outside and felt that he was squeezed out of road on the exit waving his hand in the air in disgust.

He tried a couple more moves before Cameron ran wide at Turn 2 on lap 10, this allowed Merhi to get alongside and with greater momentum swept around the outside at Turn 3 to take the position.

Boys went on to take the win, however post-race was disqualified for an illegal rear wing, this therefore handed Spaniard Merhi the race victory from Cameron, Webster, Macrow, Herne and Leeds.

The grid for the final race was determined by accumulated points over the event and meant that Macrow started on pole from Leeds, Merhi and Cameron in torrential rain.

The first two laps took place under

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A great drive by jordan Boys saw him take the flag for race 2, however a post race ws disqualified for a technical breach

S5000 main race podium left to right Joey Mawson, Aaron Cameron and Roberto Merhi

safety car before the green flags waved.

At Turn 1 Macrow ran wide and through the grass, he managed to hold the lead but suffered damage.

Tin-top expert Cameron looked immediately comfortable overtaking both Merhi and Leeds before Turn 2 and then incredibly overtook Macrow around the outside at Turn 6 to take the lead.

Merhi quickly dispersed of Macrow and was beginning to catch Cameron when he spun at the penultimate turn.

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From the back of the grid Mawson showed his class, on lap 7 he was third, this would soon become second as Herne lost driver in his GRM machine.

Out-front Cameron cruised to a memorable victory, Mawson came home in second ahead of Merhi, Macrow and Leeds.

Points: Cameron 105, Merhi 86, Macrow 86, Leeds 72, Golding 65, Mawson 57, Webster 48, Boys 39, Bargwanna 35, Purdie 34

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CATEGORY ROOKIE TEAMMATES ONE-TWO IN THEIR first outing in National Trans Am Series, Garry Rogers Motorsport teammates Jason Bargwanna and James Moffat finished first and second in round five at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Fastest qualifier Tim Brook won the first of three races. The Mustang driver did not get the greatest start and vied with Nathan Herne (Challenger), Bargwanna and Moffat in their Mustangs for the lead.

Slight contact from Bargwanna caused Herne to have a big lose in front of the field. He was tagged

by Aaron Tebb (Camaro) who had nowhere to go, spun right around and was able to continue but Tebb was out with steering arm damage.

Brook won ahead of Moffat and Bargwanna with Ben Grice (Mustang) next. Herne worked his way back to fifth ahead of Edan Thornburrow and Kyle Gurton, both in Mustangs.

Brook was outpointed off the start to race two with Bargwanna taking the lead ahead of Herne and Moffat.

After passing the latter, Brook plummeted to be 12th by race’s end, jammed in fourth gear.

Meanwhile Bargwanna showed the way for the duration with Herne second. Grice was third after he and Moffat clashed at Turn 2 that resulted in a spin for Moffat and a later post race penalty for Grice. Gurton picked up fourth in front of Thornburrow.

Tebb started at the back of the field and stormed through to sixth. Moffat finished seventh as he retrieved a spot off Zach Loscialpo (Camaro) on the last lap.

With rain falling, race three was

James Moffat in the Allan Moffat Tribute Mustang, leads a pack of dueling Trans Am cars, great racing which saw three different winners over the weekend. Jason Bargwanna looked like the racer of old with three podiums including a win.

started behind the safety car.

Bargwanna took the lead ahead of Herne before the Challenger driver

had a spin out of Turn 3.

He only lost two places, to Moffat and Grice, but had one spot back

before the lap ended.

Moffat took Bargwanna at middistance, opened up a gap and went on to win. Later Herne passed Bargwanna and was just 0.2s behind the winner at the finish. Fourth went to Brook who started 12th. He came to the line ahead of Thornburrow, Grice and Gurton.

Tebb was fourth when he spun at Turn 1, and eventually finished eighth. Dylan Thomas (Mustang) and Loscialpo copped 5s penalties for starting infringements but they didn’t affect their ninth and tenth placings.

Garry O’Brien

EIGHT STRAIGHT FOR ZACH BATES FOR THE eighth time in a row, Zach Bates had been a Toyota 86 winner. He won all three nonpoints Toyota GAZOO races with Lachlan Gibbons second after he was runner-up in two races and fourth in the last.

Bates did not lead all the way for he was outpointed in qualifying by Gibbons who led race one at the start. It was the first time that Bates had seen Toyota taillights in a race since February but it didn’t last long as he took the lead at Turn 2 on lap three.

Toyota guest driver Warren Luff overtook Bailey Sweeney for third almost as another guest driver, Cameron Hill put a similar move on Jobe Stewart.

Behind seventh placed Cameron Crick, came Hayden Jackson ahead of Ben D’Alia and Brad Vaughan in tenth. Kai Allen qualified third, but a poor start dropped him well down the order and he finished 12th behind Andrew Shah.

After Saturday’s dry conditions, Sunday was wet.

It made little difference to Bates. In the first race he led the field away from a safety car start and built up a 2.2s lead after one lap. Behind Gibbons, Brad Vaughan progressed to third after he started tenth.

Fourth went to Crick in front of Stewart, Allen (from 12th starting position), Lachlan Dalton, Ryan Casha and Harrison Gray. Luff was tenth after he held third at the start and before he and Sweeney hit

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Zach Bates really is the man to beat in the Toyota 86 series, in wet or dry conditions he is dominating the field.

and spun at Turn 4.

Hill was fifth and like his Toyota guest driver colleague Luff, copped a hit (from Hayden Jackson) at Turn 8 and finished 21st before Jackson speared off into the tyres at Turn 1.

Race three finished behind the safety car. The first came after Holly Espray spun at Turn 7 and Vaughan

bunkered at Turn 10. The second safety car appeared after Hayden Danaher was bumped into a spin after Turn 3 and contacted the concrete wall.

In the interim Bates led with Allen and Stewart both able to relegate Gibbons before the cautionary period. Crick was next ahead of Dalton, Casha, Luff, David Schulz and Andrew Shah. Garry O’Brien

NATIONALS wrap n compiled by garry o’brie

Images: Revved Photography

Steven Tamasi had a dramatic weekend of racing including winning the coveted 50k Plate.

WINS SHARED IN SPORTS SEDANS Report: Dan McCarthy

THE PRECISION International National Sports Sedans returned with a bang after a six-month break at Phillip Island, victories were shared between three drivers, however it was Steven Tamasi who won the coveted 50k Plate.

The 32 banging and popping National Sports Sedans turned on a show at Island Magic with a dramatic trio of races and saw Jordan Caruso, Thomas Randle and Tamasi all take a win apiece.

It was reigning Super2 Series winner Randle who took pole position from Tamasi by just 0.23s, Caruso rounded out the top three from Steven Lacey, Shane Woodman and Michael Robinson.

The opening encounter appeared to be one that nobody wanted to win as both the front row starters, Randle in the legendary Saab 9-3 and Tamasi behind the wheel of his Holden Calibra both failed to finish.

The top three remained glued together on the opening lap and it was how they qualified as they crossed the line for the first time, Randle from Tamasi and Caruso.

Into Turn 1 for the second time at 290km/h Tamasi’s rear wing mounts broke and sent him spinning of the track at incredibly high speed.

He was out, leaving Randle to fight off Caruso, he did this by simply pulling away from the Audi A4 driver, that was until a right front puncture on lap 7 forced him to retire from the race.

Now out-front Caruso was able to cruise to a 40.7s victory over four-time 50k Plate winner Robinson and Lacey in his Camaro.

The Race 2 grid was determined by the finishing order of Saturday’s encounter, meaning that Randle would start from 25th and Tamasi even further back.

Incredibly the second encounter proved to be even more dramatic than the first, the first twist came before the race had started.

All cars were forced to complete

an extra formation lap as they were not all in line for the first attempt at a rolling start and meant the race was reduced to just five laps.

As soon as the race started Caruso bolted away from the rest of the pack and quickly established himself a huge lead.

Tamasi was keen to make hay early and fired his Calibre around the outside at Turn 1 while Randle found himself boxed in the pack.

At the end of lap 1 Caruso led Robinson and Lacey, while Tamasi was already up to sixth, and Randle seventh.

The pair continued to march forward and by the end of lap 2 were fourth and fifth, behind only Caruso, Robinson and Lacey.

At the halfway stage of the race some panels came flying off the #49 Saab of Randle, his drivers door had come adrift of the machine, but despite this he soldiered on.

On lap 3 Tamasi and Randle dispersed of Robinson and Lacey and also Caruso.

In fact, Caruso made an unforced error at Siberia, he ran wide and found himself beached in the gravel trap, he was out of the race.

This left Tamasi and Randle to fight it out up front, with the aerodynamic modifications to the door Randle was still able to catch and pass Tamasi on lap 4 and would go on to take the win by 1.7s from Tamasi, Robinson and Shane Woodman.

Lacey dropped out of fourth when he lost a wheel with just two corners remaining.

Things were a little calmer in the final race of the weekend, the 50k Plate.

At the start Randle held onto the lead into Turn 1 despite Tamasi’s best efforts and quickly extended the gap to over 5s in the opening lap.

However, disaster stuck, as it did in Race 1 his right tyre blew on lap 4, devastatingly Randle was denied the opportunity to replicate his father’s achievement of becoming a 50k Plate winner in the same car.

This left Tamasi all on his own, he

Jordan Caruso had a big lead and then had a big off at Siberia and was lucky not to get the wall.

The Sports Sedans had a big fields and put on great racing over the weekend

Thomas Randle... Blew is own door off in winning Race 2

cruised to victory by 29.2s and in the process took his third 50k Plate in four years.

Caruso recovered to finish in second, while Robinson held onto third in his Monaro despite the race long pressure by Woodman.

It was Robinson who took the overall points for the weekend.

Robison 232, Tamasi 231, Woodman 186, Lacey 144, Heimgartner 108

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p ra w S L A N NATIO

QLD STATE BIG END AT WARWICK TEN RACING categories and over 200 entries made for a big season finale to the Queensland Circuit Racing Championships at Morgan Park on November 20-21.

SPORTS SEDANS & INVITED

IT WAS Geoff Taunton’s weekend in his MARC II V8. He won three races convincingly and was second in the last, but he did elect to start that one from the back.

Daniel Crompton (Transam Ford Mustang) was second with Chris Donnelly (Falcon/ Chev) third.

Crompton was second in race one while Donnelly had to overcome Dalton Ellery (TA2 Mustang) for third. Behind were Colin Smith (Monaro/Chev) and Grant Donaldson (MARC Focus V8). Crompton was second in the next where Ellery toppled Donnelly. Donaldson was to be next but lost four places on the last lap.

Donnelly was second in race three after Crompton spun. Fourth went to Smith ahead of George Kulig (Chev Monte Carlo). In the last Crompton passed Donnelly and staved off Taunton for the win. Behind Donnelly it was Smith, Donaldson and Ashley Bright (Holden Commodore).

PRODUCTION SPORTS

GRANT SPARKS (Porsche) took the outright and 2B class honours while 2X went to Darren Berry (Ginetta) and James Wilkins (Toyota 86) won 2F. Berry easily took out races one and two but was a no-show for the last.

In the first Gerard Murphy (Porsche) led the opening lap before taking second ahead of Sparks and a close finish that involved Lachlan Harburg (Porsche), Michael Learoyd (Chev Corvette) and Greg Waters (Corvette). Shane Plohl (Mazda MX5) beat Wilkins by 0.4s for 2F. Sparks passed Murphy on lap one of the wet second race to be the runner up while Shane Wilson (Porsche) was fourth from Harburg and Graham Lusty (Mosler).

Wilkins seemed happier in the soggy conditions to turn the tables on Plohl.

It was a tight third race finish with Sparks marginally ahead of Murphy who pressed throughout. Harburg was next from David Barram, (MX5), Learoyd and Wilson while 1.0s split Wilkins and Plohl.

CIRCUIT EXCELS

DESPITE NOT scoring a race win, Luke Pink had consistency to win the round from Jackson Faulkner who won the third race, and two-race winner Brock Giblin.

Giblin took the first, barely ahead of Jack Wood and Pink while Ben Gomersall had an equally tight fight for fourth ahead of Tyrone Gautier. It was easier in the second for Giblin with a handy margin over Pink, Faulkner, Riley Beggs, Gautier and Wood.

Faulkner withstood Beggs every attempts to get by in race three. Pink was third and took the title by four points over Begg. Wood was fourth ahead of Connor Roberts, Gautier and Jace Matthews. A blown radiator hose put Giblin out.

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Images: Trapnell Creations

Great HQ action

FORMULA VEES

THREE WINS out of the four gave Alex Macdonald (Jacer) the round ahead of Curtis Porter (Jacer) and Alex Hedemann (Rapier). Porter won the opener but had an off-road foray in the second where Hedemann improved on his first race third to finish second.

Behind Macdonald in the last two outings, it was Porter ahead of Hedemann. Fourth overall went to Tim Alder (Rapier) with a fifth, a third before two fourths. He finished ahead of dicing partner Gerrit Van de Pol before the Sabre pilot dropped to eighth and ninth in the last two races.

SALOON CARS/HQ HOLDENS & GEMINIS

Troy Marinelli winner in Improved Production a first outing fourth to finish third in race two. Simon O’Dell-Fontana (Mazda RX7) was fifth in race one before a diff breakage bunkered him. Organ-Moore finished off with a pair of seconds, ahead of Grimmond and then Taylor Hurford (BMW E36).

Zak Hudson (RX7) won the first race despite low fuel pressure which would stop him in race two. An engine change came to no avail in race three. Brock Paine’s (RX7) finished early with a broken diff. Justin Keys (Commodore) had clutch and diff issues before a broken gearbox finished him.

RACING CARS/SPORTS CARS/ FORMULA FORDS

VICTORY IN Saloons went to Shayne Hine (Ford Falcon AU) after Jamie Manteufel (Holden Commodore VT) won the first encounter. Hine beat Manteufel by 0.3s in the next before he took victories over Tony Shanks (AU) and Manteufel in the final two.

HQ’s Madden scored four wins, one over Scott Andriske and Dion Cidoni and two in front of Justin van Twest. The latter had a DNF in race one to finish fourth overall behind Andriske and Cidoni. Best of the Geminis was Nick Rangeley ahead of Rebecca Gray.

THE OVERALL win went to Blake Varney (F3 Dallara F304) who was denied a clean sweep when Carmelo Bonaventura (Radical SR3) beat him narrowly in race three. The latter finished third for the meeting behind Matt Morton (SR3 RSX).

Jamieson Davies (SR3) was fourth for the meeting ahead of the Duratec Formula Fords of Ryder Quinn (Reynard), Kyle Evans (Spectrum) and Thomas Davies (Van Diemen). After third in race one, Grant Green missed race two and followed with an eighth and a fourth. Best of the Kent Formula Fords was Fergus Coutts (Van Diemen) from Tim Hamilton (Spectrum).

IMPROVED PRODUCTION

HISTORIC TOURING CARS

AFTER A third in the opener, Troy Marinelli (Nissan 200SX) won a tough battle with Holden Commodore driver Kyle OrganMoore (second in race one) to take race two and continue to victory in the last two.

Jason Grimmond (Commodore) followed

THE ROUND was a tribute to the late John Heffernan with Craig Allan (Holden Torana XU-1) the overall/over 2.0 litre Nc winner, Cameron Hein (Ford Cortina) took under 2.0 litre Nc and Adam Duce (Morris Cooper S) was best of Nb.

The Memorial meeting also had the biggest field at Warwick where Ian Mewett in a Ford Mustang won the first race ahead of Graeme Wakefield (Mustang), Allan, Grant Wilson (Chev Camaro), Peter Baguley (Torana) and Matt Clift (Mazda RX2).

Clift went nowhere at the wet race two start before Allan charged through to win from Mewett, Wilson, Baguley and Hein. In race three Allan held off Wilson and Mewett and they headed Wakefield, Baguley and Clift. There was little between Allan, Wilson, Wakefield and Baguley for first four spots in the last.

PRODUCTION TOURING

IT WAS a BMW M3 one-two-three where Beric Lynton won each ahead of teammate Tristan Ellery, and Brad Carr.

Lindsey Kearns (Ford Mustang GT) was fourth in races one and two before an engine failure in the third. After qualifying fourth Shane Smollen (M4) went out early with overheating.

After two fifths Ben Gersekowski (older M3) finished the weekend off with a pair of fourths, each time he finished well clear of John Harris (Mitsubishi EVO) who was fifth overall. Scott Dean (Mercedes A45) was seventh for the round in front of Jake Camilleri (Mazda 3 MPS) who took out the 2021 championship.

SUPERKARTS

IT WAS Russell Jamieson (Anderson) who dominated all four outings ahead of Brock Nicholas (PVP) and Doug Amiss (Anderson). There was light rain for the start of race one and Paul Davis (Stockman) spun at Gumtree, Tim Weier (Stockman) missed him, but Pater Nuske (Peter Woodgate Racing) was not so lucky.

After the restart Lindsay Jamieson spun and later Amiss did too. Nicholas finished second ahead of Weier and Amiss. Just over half a second split Nicholas and Amiss for second in the next outing before Amiss took second over Nicholas in following races. Garry O’Brien

Ryan Humfrey in his EX Falcon and Ron Moller, Chev Camaro battle it out for the places in the combined Sports Sedans and Sports Car races.

Images: Mick Oliver

NIGHT FINALE AT WANNEROO THE STATE racing season finished at Wanneroo on November 13 with the Night Masters which went late due to several incidents.

FORMULA RACING

OVERALL IT was William Norman (Ralt RT4) the winner ahead of Martin Bullock (Chevron B20) and Allan Jones (RT5). Bob Creasy (RT4) stalled on the first race grid which stopped the event. Norman led from the restart until passed by race winner Bullock.

Alderson also slipped past to relegate Norman to third.

After leading race two initially Bullock was overtaken by Norman. Creasey stopped out of Turn 6 and triggered the safety car. Alderson was first to the finish, but received a 30s penalty for passing the safety car. It was Norman’s victory from Bullock and Jones, and he led the last throughout ahead of Bullock and Alderson.

FORMULA VEES

A VICTORY each went to David Caisley (Jacer) and Rod Lisson (Borland Sabre) after spirited dicing between the pair before the Morton Plate. It was again close and Caisley won by 0.022s. Behind Jason Fowler (Jacer) edged out Franz Esterbauer (Mako) in race one, and was easily ahead in the second. But Esterbauer took third in the feature ahead of David Campbell (Sabre) and Fowler.

Brett Scarey (CD-Vee) had two easy 1200 wins but was pushed all the way in the BM Graphics Plate by Robert McAfee (Polar) who glimpsed the lead at one stage. McAfee fended off Mackenzie Matthews (Gerbert), Andrew Lockett (Ajay) and Callum Lockett (Ajay) in the first and second race. Lockett was third in the feature ahead of Lamont and Matthews.

HQ HOLDENS

ALL THREE wins went to Michael Howlett. Mick Woodbridge pushed him all the way in race one but had a moment on the first lap of the second

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Brett Sherriff on his way to three race wins in the Excel Cup

which meant he had to come through the field to again finish second.

Woodbridge led the last but had to relent to Howlett after five laps.

Ryan Davis took the first race third place, just in front of Dennis Russell and Scott Haymes who was third off the start of the second race but fell down the order on lap two as Davis held off Russell. Grant Ord failed to finish but struck back to head off the three protagonist in the last.

opener Lutzu won over Soutar-Dawson and Adam Lisle (SR3 RSX), interrupted by a safety car when Max McRae and Elliott Schutte went off at Turn 7.

Soutar-Dawson won race two where he led Lutzu and Lisle. Jordon Oon (SR3 XX) passed the latter two, Lutzu dropped to fourth before he repassed Lisle. In the last it was again. Lisle and Max McRae (SR3) took second and third off the start and held off Oon, Elliott Schutte (SR3) and Lutzu.

EXCEL CUP

SALOON CARS

AT HIS best Brett Sherriff won the round with three race wins. Jake Passaris finished second ahead of Ryan McNess. The first was tight between Sherriff, Harrison Douglas and Passaris until it finished behind the safety car after Andrew Leech went off at Turn 7.

The second encounter was similar until Sherriff and Passaris pulled clear of Douglas. Later Dylan O’Connor bunkered at Turn 7 after a clash with Brent Peters. In the last a mechanical issue put paid to Douglas as Passaris finished second. Third was Ruano Stumpf who was docked 30s post-race which elevated Jackson Callo. McNess held onto the minor podium despite finishing sixth.

FSR

THE OVERALL honours went to BD Soutar-Dawson (Radical SR3 RSX) over Gianni Lutzu (Stohr F1000). In the

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FALCON DRIVERS were the round winners in both Pro and Pro-Am with Rick Gill and Michael Holdcroft respectively.

Grant Johnson (Holden Commodore VT) won race one with blown head gasket, ahead of Mason Harvey (Falcon AU) with a gap to Vince Ciallella (VY), Matt Martin and Michael Bond in VTs, and Greg Dyson and Gill in AUs. The latter won the second encounter after tearaway leader Harvey coasted to halt on pit straight. Gill won ahead of Bond who was barely in front of Ciallella, Byson and Rob Perrozzi (VT).

Six Pro-Ams were disqualified for being under ride height after Michael Holdcroft won race one ahead of fellow Falcon EA driver Marc Watkins, and Justin Chaffey (Commodore VN).

Holdcroft was first in race two ahead of Commodore VPs driven by Brock Ralph and Nick Lorkin. Michael Koberstein rolled his VN on the final lap.

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The FSR battle was hot all night and Gianni Lutzu in the Stohr F1000 was in the action all night

SPORT SEDANS/SPORTS CARS

BOTH RACES were won by Arthur Abrahams in his Lamborghini Huracan.

Grant Hill (Ford Falcon BF) and Glen Brocklehurst (Falcon XC Coupe) were qualifying casualties and Ron Moller (Chev Camaro) and Brett Niall (MARC Focus V8) were race one retirees.

Richard Bloomfield (Porsche 997) was second and Ryan Humfrey (Falcon XE/ Chev) third. In race two Humfrey came through for second ahead of Moller and Walter Epple (997).

IMPROVED PRODUCTION/ STREET CARS

NOT ONLY did Paul Kluck (SC Nissan Skyline R32) win the category, he also was the outright winner of all races.

Grant Gellan (IP Ford Escort MkI) was his closest rival in race one where he finished 1.2s adrift, and ahead of Reuben Romkes (IP Holden Monaro).

There was an early safety car when Andrew Souvertjis (Skyline) hit the Turn 4 wall.

In race two Drew Watkins (SC Nissan 180SX) placed second with Ben Peachey (Datsun 200B SSS) third. Best of the IPs was Romkes, fourth ahead of Ben Riley (Honda Integra Type R) and Neil Pollard (Honda Civic). Gillon retired while second in the IP group. In race three Watkins was again second with Romkes next ahead of Peachey and Riley. Mick Oliver

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NATIONALS wrap n compiled by garry o’brie

WEATHER IMPEDES CHALLENGE BATHURST THOSE COMPETING in the Challenge Bathurst Supersprints really had only Thursday of the two days to set competitive times before 70ml of overnight and morning rain greatly curtailed track activity on Friday November 12.

Brett Hobson was the fastest overall in his new GWR-run Nissan Nismo GTR GT3 in the Sprint GT group. His best time in the runner up at the Bathurst 12 Hour of 2016, was a 1min 05.141s lap, posted in Thursday’s second session.

David Wall was second fastest in Paul Tresidder’s 2019 Bathurst 12 Hour-winning Porsche 911 GT3-R with a 1min 06.040. Third overall went to Bart Mawer in the Mercedes Benz AMG GT3 (1min 06.120s) he shared with Vince Muriti while fourth was Kurt Kostecki (1min 06.460s) aboard Tony Bates’ Audi R8 LMS EVO GT3.

Peter Hackett joined Jefri Ibrahim in the Triple 8 Mercedes for fifth fastest. Adrian Deitz and Tony D’Alberto (Lamborghini Huracan) were sixth overall, with Dietz lucky a clash with Kostecki in session one over Skyline didn’t result in heavy wall contact.

Mike Bailey’s new Bentley Continental had Dylan O’Keeffe locked in for the co-driver role and they were

Image: Insyde Media

Brett Hobson in the Nissan GTR was the fastest at Challenge Bathurst 2021

seventh. Then followed Dimitri and Theo Koundouris (Audi) and Cameron Hill (Porsche 991.2 Carrera Cup Car) while the similarly mounted Aaron Love was tenth.

The other Group sessions were mostly rain-free on Thursday but not necessarily accident free. Paul Hadley rearranged the front of his new TA2 Chev Camaro in a familiarisation session. The BMW 325 of Daniel Ness was another to cop damage

when it went in at the Dipper.

Dean Campbell (Mitsubishi EVO X) did some cosmetic damage when he went into the Griffin Bend tyres before Tyler Everingham’s Subaru WRX lunched its engine at the Chase.

In Group A Richard Perini set the pace in his Time Attack Ginetta G55 ahead of Andrew Hall, Jacque Jarjo, Matt Belford, Geoff Morgan, all in Porsches, and John Bowe in his TCM Holden Torana A9X.

Image: MTR Images

Lachlan Gardner in a MARC Mazda V8 leads Grant Elliot in his BMW/Chev.

QRDC’S LAST DAY BY THE LAKE THE ONE event at Lakeside Park on November 14 would be the ninth and final round of the Queensland Raceway Drivers Championships where some titles would be finalised.

TRACK ATTACK EXCELS DARREN WHITTINGTON won the title, but it took to the second last corner of the last race to edge out rival Cameron Bartholomew who won the round, by just three points.

James Simpson snared pole ahead of 28 competitors before Ryan O’Sullivan came from sixth on the grid to win the first race where he shaded Bartholomew who came from the back. Meanwhile Treigh Maschotta was third ahead of Simpson and Whittington.

Maschotta was the early leader of race two until passed by Bartholomew. O’Sullivan hit the front later, was passed by Bartholomew before he hit back to win by 0.022s. Whittington was third from Simpson, Jarrod Hughes and Todd Wanless. Maschotta drifted to ninth.

In Race 3, Bartholomew led each lap and had 3.2s over Whittington at the flag. Hughes was third in front of

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Maschotta and Simpson who had been penalised for crossing the blend line.

In the last Whittington passed Bartholomew on the final lap for a narrow win. Hughes shadowed them across the line while Simpson was next ahead of Daniel Natoli and O’Sullivan. Maschotta dropped from fourth to tenth which was still good enough for a series third.

REPLICA TOURERS/2.0 LITRE COUPES THE TWO categories were a close match with Mitch Wooller the winner of race one in his Toyota 86 before Leonard Meiers (Holden Commodore) won the following three.

The latter and Steve Hay (Commodore) were the fastest in qualifying, but Meiers only managed fifth in the first race whilst Hay was a midrace retiree. Behind Wooller, Toyotas drivers filled the next three spots in John McLaughlin, Alex Hadden and Jack Westbury.

Wooller led the second encounter until two thirds distance when Meiers passed him and took the win, third went to McLaughlin Wooller led the next also, until Meiers nabbed him on

Warwick Morris (Radical SR3 RSX) topped Group B ahead of Michael King (EVO X), Andrej Pavicevic (Nissan Skyline R34 GTR), Jason Wright (R34), and Andrew Richmond (Lotus Exige 350 Plus).

In Group C Jack Phelan (Porsche 991.2) was fastest in both Thursday outings, before Todd Herring struck dry conditions in the last session on Friday to beat him.

Garry O’Brien

the last lap. McLaughlin was second with two laps to go when he had drama that left Alex Hadden to assume third from Westbury and Ryan Hadden.

It was a similar scenario in the last as Wooller led initially before Meiers surged ahead. Westbury was third for awhile but ultimately placed fifth behind Alex Hadden and McLaughlin. Ryan Hadden DNF’d after an ABS failure put him into a tyre barrier.

SPORTS & SEDANS OVER THE four races Lachlan Gardner was untroubled in winning each aboard the MARC Mazda V8 after also qualifying fastest. Grant Elliott (BMW E35 M3/Chev) was half a second slower in qualifying and offered the closest competition until ousted with overheating in Race 1.

That left Steven Marek (Nissan Skyline GTR) to take second just in front of Sam Collins (Nissan Silvia).

Marek grabbed the lead off the start but was third behind Gardner and Collins shortly after. Elliott passed both by the fourth tour and looked set to run second until another DNF. Marek retrieved second ahead of Collins.

Elliott had further dramas when second in race three, this time with a front right suspension failure. Collins finished second from Spencer. Elliott was able to make repairs and finished second in the last and also became the outright champion ahead of Collins.

PRODUCTION UTES RACING BEHIND Sports & Sedans, Scott Tamati was dominate in his 5.0 litre Ford Falcon FG. In all four encounters he finished well clear of John Young in six cylinder Holden Commodore VZ. Third in the opener went to Brendan Exner, while Daniel Ford was third in following three races.

HOT HATCHES STARTING WITH the Utes, competition was much tighter in the Hatches where Trent Laves (Hyundai Getz) was the winner overall, as he won two races to Dylan Cothill (Mazda 2) and Grant Preston (Ford Fiesta) with one each, which left them second and third respectively.

SPORTSCARS IN A small field, the smallest engined car took a clean sweep. Michael Von Rappard in his 1.0 litre Suzuki powered Stohr WR-1 took out the three races ahead of the Hayabusa-powered Radical SR3 driven by Grant Green. Garry O’Brien

WILKINS’ WET WIN IN A brand-new Mitsubishi EVO 9, Tim Wilkins and Jim Gleeson won the AMSAG Oberon Rally, held near Black Springs (NSW) on November 13. They finished 28s ahead of Jamie and Brad Luff (Subaru Impreza WRX0, with Nathan Quinn and Ray Winwood-Smith (Mazda RX2) a further 14s back.

Heavy rain in the days before the event led to some stages being shortened before the start. Nevertheless, over 50 cars greeted the start in freezing cold, with strong winds and constant rain and even some sleet.

Wilkins made a steady start, fourth fastest on the first two stages, Roberts Road and Essington, both north of the start. After the first service and some adjustments the performance improved, up to second after stage three, Beemarang and into the lead after Barrakee, stage four. He would hold the lead until the end of the rally.

The four stages were to be repeated, but the Roberts Road stage was becoming boggy in one section, so was not run a second time. Otherwise, the roads held up well.

Quinn won the opening stage, despite only having 2WD. Wilkins and Jamie Neale and Tommi Flegl (WRX) shared fastest on the first run through Essington, as Quinn dropped to third place. Quinn retook the lead after the Beemarang 1 stage, although

Image: Bruce Moxon

Tim Wilkins and Jim Gleeson lead the way in an event marked by heavy rain.

Wilkins won the stage. Wilkins also won the next stage, Barrakee, both times it was run.

The Luffs didn’t win any stages but led the event after stage 2. Fourth went to Riley Walters and Andre Crowley (WRX). Walters, who is still on his road P plates, had a steady start before gaining some

confidence, taking two stage wins (Essington 2 and Beemarang 2).

Forty of the starters finished, a great effort in the circumstances. But the heroes of the event were the volunteer officials, outdoors in horrible conditions all day. Bruce Moxon

EXCELS A PLENTY FOR MEMORIAL ENDURO IT WAS a big weekend at Winton Motor Raceway on November 13-14 with the 2021 David Lowe Memorial Excel Enduro Cup, and the bonus fifth round of the Australian Formula Ford Championship.

EXCEL ENDURO CUP THE ONE-MAKE series was well catered for, two 90-minute races with 49 teams of two drivers.

The overall victory went to the combination of Arron Hindle/Rohan Kinens over Hugo Simpson/Ben Grice and Dale Carpenter/Lee Uhlhorn.

The first of the enduros was won by Simpson and Grice who finished 6.4s ahead of Harry Tomkins and Jarred Farrell, and Hindle/Kinens, the two crews separated by 0.21s after the 49-lap journey.

Aaron Cameron led the first 12 laps before he lost clutch fluid and Simpson/ Grice took over. Both, along with several others, pitted on lap 18 which allowed Toby Waghorn/Trent Brinsley to show the way for the next dozen laps.

After that it was Simpson/Grice in front to the end. Fourth place went to Ryan Phillips/James Westaway ahead of Ben and Jason Bargwanna, It was a close result in race two. With 42 laps covered, there was just 1.8s between race winners Hindle/Kinens and Bywater/ Cameron at the end. Third went to Kobi Williams and Mason Kelly.

Cameron went straight to the lead at the start until lap 4 when headed by the winners for the next 17 laps. Cameron regathered the lead until his pitstop when Hindle pitted at the same time. Bywater led the next two laps before Kinens took over until the end.

Behind the top three it was Scott Appledore/Marcus Fraser in front of Carpenter/Uhlhorn, and Simpson/Grice who recovered from a late five place

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Image: Phil Wisewould Photography

Tricky conditions made for some great Excel racing

drop when they tangled with another competitor. Seventh were Wil Longmore and Preston Breust ahead of Grigg-Gault and Smith. The latter picked up three places on the last lap to place ahead of the Bargwannas, Phillips/Westaway, and Joel Stafford and Aaron Hie. Behind the top three it was Scott Appledore/Marcus Fraser.

Before the second enduro, the four-lap Dash for Cash was won by Grice over Ethan Grigg-Gault and Dale Carpenter.

FORMULA FORDS TWO OF the three races at Round 5 were won by Tom Sargent and the Mygale driver accrued enough points to take out the championship with still a round to go.

Second for the round went to Harrison Goodman (Mygale) with Cameron McLeod (Spectrum) third.

Fastest qualifier Sargent won the first race convincingly ahead of McLeod who was barely in front of Goodman, with Spectrum pilots Jude Bargwanna and James Piszcyk 0.05s apart in the battle for

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fourth. Sargent’s teammate Noah Sands (Mygale) stalled at the start before making solid progress until he tagged a spun car.

Sargent was placed to win the second until the safety car was called. After which he and Cody Donald (Spectrum) who charged from the back, clashed at Turn 3 which allowed Sinni through for the win ahead of Xavier Kokai (Spectrum), Winston Smith (Mygale), McLeod and Goodman.

Sands went out with an electrical failure before fighting back for second in the last, behind Sargent after they started at the rear. Donald was third from Sinni and Piszcyk.

2.0 LITRE SPORTS SEDANS/PULSARS IN ALL four races, it was the Mini Cooper S JCW pilots that headed the combined field. Ian McDougall and Craig Lindsell split the wins two apiece, however the former’s two seconds to Lindsell’s one, earned him the overall points win. Three thirds and a second had Linda Devlin third overall ahead of Steve Howards (Toyota Corolla) and Andrew Pinkerton (Datsun 510).

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Mark Crutcher was first of the Pulsars in the four races but was denied the clean sweep because of a 5s penalty in the last which relegated him to second. Dan Smith was second ahead of Matt Butters in the first race before the latter scored two seconds, and then a third behind race four winner Lee Nuttall.

THUNDER SPORTS THE WEATHER played a significant part in the final outcome where Bret Mitchell (Chev OzTruck) was the overall winner. In qualifying Keven Stoopman (Mitsubishi EVO 7) splashed around for pole.

Dry by race time, John Holinger (TA2 Camaro) staved off Mitchell in the first two races before the latter won the third.

There was a lengthy safety car in race three, due to David Buntin barrel rolling his Lotus Elise at Turn 6. McLeod ultimately took second ahead of Travis Condon (Toyota Corolla) who went onto win a soggy last outing ahead of Owen Boak (Mazda MX5) and Brendan O’Connor (Falcon XR6). Garry O’Brien

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NATIONALS wrap n compiled by garry o’brie

HQ Holdens as always do battle. While an early tussle in the Sports Sedans race saw Brad Chick and Laurie Williams sit out the rest of the weekend (below).

Images: Angryman Photography

SEASON ENDS AT BASKERVILLE MOST OF the titles were all but decided, but the sixth and final round of the Tasmanian Circuit Racing Championships at Pepsi Max Baskerville Raceway on November 20-21 was packed full of highlights

FORMULA VEES

WHILE THE field was small, the Dick Crawford Memorial handicap was a highlight, with Jeremy Dyer (Elfin Crusader) and Chris Neil (Spectre Hepburn) having a good battle. In the handicap race, back marker Wade McLean (Elliott) couldn’t bridge the gap to cap off a perfect weekend, after winning all four heats and the double points final to win his fourth Tasmanian championship.

HQ HOLDENS

IN THE Laurie Kelly Memorial champion-elect and back marker Phil Ashlin was unable to get up, but looked a big chance to do so until Andrew Toth dropped oil on the track ahead of him and spun, forcing Ashlin to take evasive action and interrupt his charge.

Andrew Bird was already ahead of the incident and went on to win from Ashlin and Otis Cordwell.

Ashlin had already wrapped up his sixth state title, as he won every other race except the first heat on the Saturday in which he finished second behind Cordwell.

HYUNDAI EXCELS

CHARLIE PARKER has shown he’s a champion of the future by becoming a champion of today.

Mentored by his grandfather and racing legend Greg Crick, Parker was in a commanding position as he headed into the last round.

The double points final was undoubtedly the race

of the weekend with Parker, reigning champion Josh Webster and Trans-Am regular Tim Shaw locked in a titanic battle – and not for the first time over the weekend. Webster won the final and the round, but it was Parker’s title after a more consistent season, including two race wins at the final round.

While many observers believe Parker is destined for greater things, his priority for now is to defend his Hyundai title next season.

SPORTS GT

CHAMPIONSHIP LEADER in GTB David Walker (Datsun 1200 Ute) had a good points lead when he headed into the final round – and he needed it, in what was a dirty weekend for him. Dogged by electrical and gearbox issues and then an engine miss, he was unable to match it with Honni Pitt (Mitsubishi EVO 9) who won every race convincingly.

However, Walker was able to limp home in second, third or fourth in most cases, to preserve his championship lead and leave Pitt wondering what could have been. Meanwhile David Paine had three race wins in his GTA Holden Commodore Ute before two DNFs and Mick Williams (GTC Datsun 240Z) had four class wins.

SPORTS SEDANS

LAURIE WILLIAMS (Mazda RX-7) had a handy lead in the title chase as he entered the last round.

However, a first-lap incident with Brad Chick (Holden Commodore) in the opening race ended the meeting for both drivers. Williams watched on nervously for the next couple of races before he realised, he had done enough to win the championship.

The highlight of the racing was Brad Sherriff’s dominance in his Nissan

Skyline R32 rocket ship, breaking the class lap record on the Saturday, to add to the lap record he broke at Symmons Plains in the previous round.

IMPROVED PRODUCTION

THE CHAMPIONSHIP was decided before the final round, with Jared House (Holden Torana A9X) who had an unbeatable lead – so, with the recent birth of a child, he opted to stay home. Former champion Matthew Grace (Nissan 200SX), dominated in House’s absence, winning all five races, to put second place in the championship also beyond doubt.

HISTORIC TOURING CARS

IN HIS last appearance in the category Michael Cross (Holden Torana XU-1) went out a winner before embarking on a sports sedan campaign next year.

But it wasn’t a perfect end to his final chapter, after he spun on the opening lap in race three and was collected by Roger Hurd (BMW 2002 TC Coupe), resulting in a DNF for both, and ending the meeting for Hurd. Although racing in the category Phil House wasn’t allowed to score any points due to lightweight panels on his BMW Alpina E30.

THE BOSS OF BASKERVILLE

COLLOQUIALLY KNOWN as a “butcher’s picnic” in the past, it featured Improved Production, Historic Touring Cars, and Sports GTB and GTC cars in a mixed field. Michael Cross (Holden Torana XU-1) looked set to win after he led the handicap for all but the last half a lap. But his Torana stopped halfway up the hill, allowing Phil House (BMW Alpina E30) to take the win.

Martin Agatyn

RECORDS TUMBLE AFTER RECORD LOCKDOWN HILLCLIMB COMPETITION returned to Victoria with a Gippsland Car Club multi-club event at Bryant Park on November 7. Patrick Malanaphy (pictured) in his Yacar Cross K8 took the outright win as well as a new outright and class lap record of 77.29s.

Sixty eight entrants enjoyed four runs on the clockwise figure eight double loop track, the longest of the configurations. They also had the bonus of dry mild weather which allowed for some quick times and close competition, particularly between the top three.

Malanaphy was half a second ahead of Wim Janssen and his WIMP 003 with 77.79s which was also under the old outright record, set by

64 AutoAction

Fred Galli in 2019.

Janssen also claimed the class record for Formula Libre 1301-2000cc. Ewen Moile in his Ramblebee Mk8, completed the podium and finished just 2.0s off the pace on his final run.

The top five were all open wheelers with Mark Samson in his Spectrum Formula Ford with a class record in fourth ahead of David Casey and his self-designed and built TH109R. Steve Buffinton was quickest Clubman in sixth with another class record while Rhys Yeomans in

his Honda Civic was quickest tin-top with an improved Production class record. He was closely followed by Glenn Latter and his RX7 for the over 2001 Sports Car record.

The Minahan brothers were missing from the open wheeler classes as they were making their first appearance in their newly acquired Mazda MX5 which they say will allow them to compete at hillclimbs where open cars are not allowed.

Gary Hill

SPEEDWAYnews

GOODYER GOES BACK 2 BACK IN USC BACKING UP from the opening round of the 2021/22 Ultimate Sprintcar Championship at the Hi-Tec Oils Toowoomba Speedway, Tasmanian Jock Goodyer successfully claimed victory in the 30-lap feature race. But to get the job done he would have to battle tooth and nail and rely on just a little bit of luck to get the win in a thrilling race that would have had former Cricket commentator Richie Benaud buzzing over as he would have announced ‘Two for Twenty Two’, referring to the back to back wins for the Tassie pilot in the T22 D&B Goodyer Developments entry.

Despite starting from pole position Goodyer was quickly relegated to third as Lachlan McHugh launched around the outside to lead the twenty car field for the first three circulations, closely followed by Luke Oldfield before Anthony Lambert spun in turn four to bring on the first caution of the race and B Main winner Ryan Newton had retired to watch the reminder of the race from the infield.

Just two laps later the red lights were ablaze when Ben Atkinson inverted the Aeroflow D2 entry and was clipped by the luckless Bryan Mann who was unable to find a safe passage past, neither competitor would continue. At the restart, Oldfield launched a strong challenge for the lead on McHugh as the pairing remained in close quarters until hitting lapped cars where McHugh was able to open a handy break and continued to show the quickest way

T22 Jock Goodyer taking back to back USC wins

through traffic for the next twenty plus revolutions while Oldfield and Goodyer had reduced the real-estate and with four laps remaining the yellow lights were again ablaze for Lambert who was unable to travel the distance.

With five laps remaining and a bunched field the Indian file looked menacing as the lead trio were closely tailed by Cody Maroske, Ryan McNamara, Callum Walker. At the drop of the green Goodyer advanced to second over Oldfield while Maroske quickly showed his intentions trying to gain both positions sliding the bottom but proved unsuccessful in doing so.

The race from the lead trio then become a thrilling game of Cat and Mouse as the minor placers threw everything they could at the race leader as they continued trading blows for position, with two laps remaining it was heartbreak for McHugh who went from looming hero to zero as his right rear tyre exploded on the back straight, Oldfield did his best to avoid the slowed McHugh entry only to sustain accidental damage from Goodyer as he

slipped under both of the them.

With a green, white chequered scenario to play out Goodyer would go on to record back to back USC round victories, McNamara managed to keep a calm head throughout the pandemonium to manoeuvre his way to second and Maroske rounded out the victory dais in third. Nicholas Wheel used his local knowledge to advance to a well placed fourth over Taylor Prosser and Brent Kratzmann rounding out the top half dozen. Walker, Karl Hoffmans, Richard Morgan, Tim Farrell, Brett Minnett, Steven Greer all ran inside the top dozen while Oldfield limped home with a wounded car to round out the finishers in thirteenth.

McHugh proved the quickest earlier in the night, claiming the Locked Down Apparel Quick Time Award in addition to both his heat races. McNamara, Oldfield, Walker and Farrell secured a single heat victory apiece.

The Petzyo Development Series for Sprintcars again ran in conjunction with the headlining class and it would be Nicholas O’Keefe finding the fastest

SAUER’S SHORT WAY HOME! AFTER A twenty year long hiatus The Castrol Edge Lismore Speedway played host for the return of the 410ci powered Sprintcars with the opening round of the New South Wales Sprintcar Club Championship which was billed as the Northern River Sprintcar Rumble. With a baker’s dozen of Sprintcar competitors assembling for the nights action the competitors were keen to put their best wheels forward for this highly anticipated event and it would be local racer Mick Sauer to find the shortest way home in the 30-lap feature race.

At the drop of the green, pole sitter Warren Ferguson took control of the race however his tenure would only be short lived after cutting down a right rear tyre on the maiden circulation before bringing on the yellow lights.

At the restart, fourth placed Mick Turner dashed his chances of a strong finish after clipping the restart cone he would be sent to the rear of field for the following restart where Sam Walsh would lead the way as Sauer made short work of sliding by Luke Stirton and the following revolution under Walsh and from that point forward he would continue to work the pole line of the track as Walsh tucked in tightly

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Image: Declan Brownsey

way to the finish line in both heat races and the C Main to be the only non-defeated of the eight to claim competitors, Des Moes was runner up and Brad Keiler would join them in the podium celebrations. Erin Vanderryden, Tyson Lochwood, Libby Ellis and Tim Ford were the final runners.

In the support divisions, Rusty Whittaker advanced from sixth to win the Speedcar feature race with Scotty Farmer and Brendan Palmer sharing the podium. Casey O’Connell proved too strong in the Wingless Sprints to take maximum feature points over Ryan Harris and Scott Thomsen. Liam Williams fought his way forward to win the Formula feature from Kaydon Iverson and reigning Queensland champion James Kennedy next in line.

The AMCA Nationals feature went to Bruce Marshall over the two Steve’s in Potts and Price. Jayden Iacono journeyed from flag to flag to claim the 15-lap Compact Speedcar over Andrew Parkes and Mitchell Rooke third.

Paris Charles

Mick Sauer in the Pottsville Self Storage Q69

on his tail following the race leader, just as the race approached the half way mark the lead duo encountered the first of the back markers which looked to spice things up only for rookie competitor Alex Attard to spin in turn two and bring the field back together for another Indian file restart.

With clear track ahead Sauer stuck to the bottom side as the field followed in his wheel tracks, as the laps peeled away the lead duo Image: Tony Powell again cleared out from the competitors. With In the supporting classes Mason Cattell lead from two circulations to run Walsh decided it would flag to flag in the wingless Sprints over David Eggins be now or never as he mounted an all in attempt to and Trent Martin. Adam Grill survived a late race try the high side to take the race lead, while he was challenge to claim the street Stock feature over attacking the leader this allowed Stirton to sneak Brendan Hayes and Greg Dickson. Max Clarke and underneath and into second, relegating Walsh to Matthew Layton made the most of their front row third on the podium behind Sauer and Stirton.

Fourth Image: John Doutch, B Team Media starts to finish in that order with Madison Harkin to the line was Peter O’Neill followed by Mark Attard, joining them in Victory Lane. The Four Cylinder Zac Pacchiarotta, Jeff Lawler, debutant racer Luke class podium was Nathan McGregor, David Putsey Thomas and Mick Turner rounding out those to go and Shanae Smith. Zac Brimms proved the fastest the distance. amongst a large field of Junior Sedans, join him on Heat race wins were shared by Mark Attard, Sauer, Ferguson who also claimed the Dash and Walsh who the podium was Indiana Butcher and Sophie Santin.

Paris Charles set Quick Time in Time Trials at the start of the night.

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65

We take a look back at what was making news in Auto Action 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago 1971: FRESH OFF his Formula Ford Championship triumph, Larry Perkins was announced as a Holden Dealer Team driver for 1972. Perkins would go on to win the Australian Formula 2 Championship that year in dominant fashion, going unbeaten in four races. Peter Brock was excluded from the rallycross final at Catalina Park due to inadequate repairs on his Torana, paving the way for a Bob Watson victory.

1981: SYDNEY’S RECENT bid for the Australian Grand Prix was not a first, plans for an AGP at a Sydney street circuit plastered the front page of AA in 1981. Controversy was rife as the debate heated up between holding a World Championship event in the harbour city or scheduling the race at Calder Raceway for Formula Pacific cars. In the end, the latter won out.

Name:

Bathurst 1000 crossword

Images: AA Archives The annual Bathurst 1000 crossword. How much do you know about the Great Race?

1991: GLENN SETON confirmed that his team would run a Ford Falcon in 1993 under the new Group A rules, abandoning his Sierras. The switch would be a hit, Seton winning his first Australian Touring Car Championship with seven race wins. Abroad, former Mercedes-Benz head Werner Niefer explained its exit from motorsport and more specifically Formula 1… if only he knew what the future held.

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3

4

5

6 7

8

9 10

11

2001: THERE WAS news aplenty in V8 Supercars land, headlined by the return of world motorcycle champion Wayne Gardner who signed off for a drive with Stone Brothers Racing. Gardner would make just a handful of appearances in 2002, which turned out to be his final year of competition. Meanwhile, Steven Richards made a shock exit from Ford Tickford Racing, cutting his contract short before Bathurst.

12 13 14

15

16 17 18 19 20

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23

24

2011: THE RESULTS of AA’s drivers’ poll were front and centre, with James Courtney copping the most grief from his rivals. Courtney was voted the biggest underperformer in 2011 by 61% of drivers, and worst driver by 64% of fans.

Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup tied the vote for best driver, both earning 43% of support.

25

Across

Created using the Crossword Maker on TheTeachersCorner.net

15. WhoDown was the first driver to win the 1. Allan Moffat holds the record biggest pole margin, by 1. Who was the driverinto take successive pole positions?

1. Allan Moffat holds of thethe record of the Bathurst 1000 for Ford andlast Holden how manybiggest secondspole did margin, he take pole in 1971? by how many consecutive(surname) years?(full name) 3. Prior to Supercheap Auto, Bob Jane T-Marts was the 2. Who is the only person to win the Bathurst 500 more than seconds did he take pole in 1971?

18. What brand of car won the 1985 sponsor of the Great Race, but for how many years? once as a solo driver?

3.

Prior to Supercheap Auto, Bob Jane Bathurst 1000?

4. Which brand last took back-to-back race wins?

3. Holden has the record of Great race wins, how many has it wasScott the sponsor of the Great 19. Who is taken? the youngest driver to win the 7. In what T-Marts position did McLaughlin finish in last year’s Bathurst 1000?

5. Who was the most recent driver to win Bathurst and the Race, but for how many years?

Bathurst 1000? (surname) 8. Dick Johnson won his first Bathurst 1000 in 1981, who was championship the same year? (surname) 4. Which brand last took back-to-back 21. Three drivers, WarreninLuff, Brad Jones his co-driver? (surname) 6. How many Australian’s have won the Bathurst 1000 in a Ford race the wins? and who hold the record for the most 10. Who holds record of six Bathurst 1000 pole positions?

Mustang?

Bathurst 1000 podiumsinto without a win? the 2021 edition, how many times has Garth (surname)7. In what position did Scott McLaughlin 8. Heading finish in last 1000? team at The (surname) Tander won the race?

12. With nine wins whatyear’s is the Bathurst most successful 9. Oftimes the current Supercars Championship drivers who Mountain?8.(abbreviation) Dick Johnson won his first Bathurst 22. How many has a full-time Volvo won the Bathurst 500 more than once as a solo holds the record of the most podiums without a win? (surname) 14. Who has the most Bathurst 1000 podium finishes with 14?

1000 in 1981, who was his co-driver?

Bathurst 1000? driver?

11. Who won the final Super Touring 1000 alongside Jim (surname) (surname) 23. How many times did Jim Richards win 3. Holden has the record of Great race Richards? (surname) 15. Who was the first driver to win the Bathurst 1000 for Ford 10.in Who holds the record ofname) six Bathurst the Bathurst13.

1000? many at has it taken?

Who was the first driver to top a wins, Top 10how Shootout and Holden consecutive years? (full (full name) 18. What brand carpositions? won the 1985 Bathurst 1000?

1000 of pole (surname) 25. On howBathurst? many occasions has the race 5. Who was the most recent driver to win theWith youngest driverwhat to win 16.full Who was the first person to lap the Mountand Panorama Circuit 19. Who is12. nine wins is the the Bathurst most 1000? not gone the distance?

Bathurst the championship in the (surname) in a V8 Supercar in under 2m 10s? (surname) successful team at The Mountain?

Down same year? (surname) 21. Three drivers, Warren Luff, Brad Jones and who hold the 17. Who won the Bathurst 1000 in 1986 alongside Allan Grice, thefinal lastyear driver to take How many(surname) Australian’s have won the record for (abbreviation) the most Bathurst 1000 podiums without a win?1. Who wasthe before The Chase was6.introduced? successive20. poleFrom positions? (surname) Bathurst in a Ford (surname)14. Who has the most Bathurst 1000 what starting position did Shane van1000 Gisbergen andMustang?

22. How many times has a with Volvo14? won(surname) the Bathurst 1000?2. Who is the Garth 10008. in Heading 2020? into the 2021 edition, how podium finishes onlyTander personwin to the winBathurst the

Across

many times has Garth Tander won the race?

9. Of the current full-time Supercars Championship drivers who holds the record of the most podiums without a win? (surname) 11. Who won the final Super Touring 1000 alongside Jim Richards? (surname) 13. Who was the first driver to top a Top 10 Shootout at Bathurst? (full name) 16. Who was the first person to lap the Mount Panorama Circuit in a V8 Supercar in under 2m 10s? (surname) 17. Who won the Bathurst 1000 in 1986 alongside Allan Grice, the final year before The Chase was introduced? (surname) 20. From what starting position did Shane van Gisbergen and Garth Tander win the Bathurst 1000 in 2020?

24. How many times has Peter Brock won the Great Race?

23. How many times did Jim Richards win the Bathurst 1000?

24. How many times has Peter Brock won the Great Race?

25. On how many occasions has the race not gone the full distance? 1824 Crossword Answers 1 down – Mawson, 2 down – Hamilton, 3 across – Salazar, 4 down – Robotham, 5 across – Seton, 6 down – Elliott, 7 across – Yamaha, 8 down – Jane, 9

across – American, 10 down – America, 11 across – Volvo, 12 down – Team Penske, 13 across – HRT, 14 across – three, 15 down – Randle, 16 down – Walker, 17 down – Bayliss, 18 across – Australian, 19 across – Italian, 20 across – Prost, 21 down – Golding, 22 across – Webb, 23 down – Brown, 24 across – Will Brown, 25 down – Bartlett, 26 across – Unser, 27 down – Dodge, 28 across – Bowe, 29 across – GRM, 30 across – Ngatoa

66 AutoAction

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